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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

CDC Says Vaccinated Americans Can Drop Masks And Social Distancing; India Grapples With Virus As Variants Spread Around The World; Public Pressure Building In Japan To Cancel Upcoming Olympics. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 14, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:06]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good Friday morning. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett, about 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.

Well, after a year that seems like it would never end, Americans can literally and figuratively breathe a collective sigh of relief. If you are fully vaccinated against COVID you can stop wearing that mask and you don't need to worry about social distancing in most settings. There are some exceptions here.

After facing criticism for being too conservative on this issue, President Biden now mask-free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is a great day for America. You've endured all this.

When your country asked you to get vaccinated you did. The American people stepped up. You did what I consider to be your patriotic duty and that's how we've gotten to this day.

The rule is very simple. Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.

If you're vaccinated, you can be around the vaccinated or unvaccinated people. But if you're not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated you should wear a mask for your own protection and the protection of other unvaccinated people. The choice is yours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, the CDC mask announcement means that vaccines work. If you are vaccinated you are safe. For proof, look no further than a new study showing 99 percent of COVID hospital admissions from January to mid-April were among people who were not fully vaccinated. But, of course, there are a lot of real-world questions, like what

does this mean for young children who aren't vaccinated who are around adults who won't wear masks?

JARRETT: This is so, so important for retailers, too. This could once again put the burden of enforcement on masks on businesses.

Already, the governor of Oregon suggesting businesses may have to check the vaccination status of customers and workers before dropping their mask mandates.

And at the Wynn in Las Vegas, guests don't have to wear a mask if they're fully vaccinated, but they do if they are not. How they're going to tell, anybody's guess.

In any event, Americans, of course, have their own opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is something that we've been looking forward to for a year that looked almost like a decade. I mean, it felt that long. And just to come out here and see people relax and be able to -- you know, to roam around without feeling that pressure of who has COVID -- I mean, it's just a great feeling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let's just wear a mask until no one has to wear it. You know, just common courtesy for your fellow person whether they're vaccinated or not.

REPORTER: What's the first thing you would like to do? Is there a concert or something you'd like to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a deep breath (laughing).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great -- I love it. It's like another world right now. I'm fully vaccinated myself -- Pfizer. Now I can just -- I keep the mask just to here because some of the people feel uncomfortable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so happy. I couldn't wait. More freedom. I'm tired of ordering things online and not going into the stores because the mask has to stay on so long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was wearing my mask all the time. I no catch the COVID.

REPORTER: Right. So for you, it's a safety thing. That you want to be 110 percent sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And I know, Laura, a lot of people like that who say you know, I'm just going to wait here and I kind of want to still be a role model for people who are not vaccinated to make sure they're still wearing their masks and don't feel ostracized.

The key to the rule change here though is new data showing vaccinated people are far less likely to transmit this virus and the vaccines are standing up to COVID variants.

JARRETT: I still wonder though if businesses still have a mask rule in place. If you can't go to a Starbucks or a CVS or a grocery store without wearing a mask, what does this really do?

ROMANS: Well -- and they have to protect their own employees, right?

JARRETT: Sure.

ROMANS: And not even all of their employees will be able to be vaccinated. This is still in emergency use authorization, so until they can legally require people to be vaccinated they could have a voice --

[05:35:02]

JARRETT: I think they can do it now.

ROMANS: You do?

JARRETT: I think they can do that right now, and I think you're going to see more and more businesses do that.

ROMANS: All right.

As the U.S. starts to emerge from COVID, other parts of the world remain in the grip of the virus.

CNN's Sam Kiley live from Delhi, in India. You know, Sam, the variant that emerged in India is now spreading across the globe. You just heard the optimism we're talking about in the U.S. You have a very different story where you sit right now.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but a very different response, ultimately.

Firstly, this country lifted its masking regulations, largely, and allowed large gatherings earlier on this year before a vaccination campaign had gotten underway, which is now only standing at scraping towards three percent of the entire 1.35 billion population.

So there is this catastrophic second wave here. The average death toll is sort of around 4,000 a day. Some 3 1/2 -- 3,500 -- 3 1/2 -- oh my goodness, I meant 300,000 people a day testing positive for these -- for the COVID vaccinations. And all of this pointing towards the idea that this second wave hasn't crested.

So the real issue here, though, is vaccinations. And they're running out of vaccinations, just as the United States, United Kingdom, and others are beginning to take their masks off and breathe a little bit easier. Today, Narendra Modi, the prime minister, did say that this was a

country, in his words, that didn't give up hope. But he didn't give the country any hope that he was going to impose the sort of lockdowns that states around -- the 35 or the 36 states and unitary territories here have actually done their own thing and have imposed various different kinds of lockdown.

ROMANS: All right, Sam Kiley for us in India. A tough assignment you've had there over the past few weeks. Thanks so much -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right.

Enormous progress on Coronavirus and the change in the CDC mask guidance -- importance steps for the president. But he's still facing major headwinds that could threaten his agenda.

Jasmine Wright is live at the White House for us. Jasmine, good morning.

How is the president keeping focused on infrastructure -- a huge priority for him right now and he's constantly getting sidetracked by things like a huge pipeline getting held up for ransom or other things from the pandemic -- Israel? So many different issues on his plate.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, no doubt, this is a challenge for the White House and President Biden himself and it will be a test because look, these are folks that want to focus on his $4 trillion infrastructure and jobs package. They want to push it.

But now they are having to divert their attention to multiple, multiple places. We saw that yesterday when President Biden had to come out and talk about the steps that his administration is taking on that U.S. pipeline cyberattack, trying to project calm and tamp down on panic. Because we know, as they know, that long lines at a gas station and rising gas prices are not good for approval numbers.

And then -- and then on the economy, we see that spike in inflation. We saw that dismal jobs report, right? President Biden and the White House are having to defend their actions on the economy that they want to go big, really, as those negative numbers are fueling Republican criticism that maybe they're not right on the economy.

And we know that the guiding ethos of this White House is that if they get the economy in line, everything else that they want to do will fall in line.

And then, not to mention abroad. Every time that they are talking about different issues across the globe, they are not talking about infrastructure. So that is going to be a test for them.

But one of the things that this White House is trying to is -- at least domestically -- they are tying their issues back to infrastructure.

So you say -- they say that you see slumping jobs numbers -- well, guess what? They have a $4 trillion infrastructure and jobs package for you. You see crippling infrastructure and cyberattacks. Well, guess what? They have money inside of that $4 trillion infrastructure and jobs package for you.

And on infrastructure, we saw that meeting yesterday with Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and President Biden -- and now, folks are talking more and more about compromise. So we will see and be watching that space as they try to negotiate as the White House tries to redirect their focus and balance a million things back onto infrastructure -- Laura.

JARRETT: That's their job.

All right, Jasmine. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: More Republican governors are stopping pandemic jobless benefits early for nearly two million Americans. Georgia, Arizona, and Ohio now will opt out of extra benefits for their residents. Sixteen states now, in total. The extra money designed to end in September will end earlier than that -- as soon as June 12th in those states.

The governors cite worker shortages and call the benefit a disincentive for returning to work.

The truth is more complicated. The economy, of course, is still in the middle of a pandemic. Schools are not fully reopened. There are plenty of people who can't go back to work full-time until we get the schools open. Two and one-half million women have dropped out of the labor force, many to take care of kids or elderly family members at home.

At the same time, many lower-income earners -- those hardest hit by the pandemic -- are seeing their budgets squeezed by sudden price spikes. Everything from housing to clothing to gas is more expensive. Higher prices at the pump disproportionately affect low-income Americans.

[05:40:09]

Those households also spend a third of their annual income on food. In April, food prices rose 2.4 percent from the year before.

JARRETT: I would have to think this is widely unpopular -- ending benefits early. That can't be something that goes over well.

ROMANS: It's a risk. I mean, because what if you have -- you have two million people in these -- some of these are battleground states, right --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: -- who now are going to have a check cut-off at a time when maybe they can't go back to work yet, or maybe they're going back to work in an industry where the pay is low.

And, quite frankly, in hospitality, in particular -- I mean, a lot of people are reporting you have cantankerous customers who want --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: -- things back to normal. They will not accept that there are some shortages of some frontline workers coming back. And, you know, just -- customers be nice. We're not ---

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: We're not back to normal yet.

JARRETT: Yes, that goes without saying.

All right, we'll be right back.

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[05:45:08]

ROMANS: All right, Friday's stock market report. Taking a look at markets rebounding around the world, Asian shares closing up -- closing up. Look, Tokyo ending the week up two percent as the debate grows about whether to cancel the Olympics there. European shares also opening higher.

On Wall Street, futures leaning up again. The Dow solidly above 34,000. Wall Street shook off inflation fears. The Dow had its best day since late March.

The concern was, of course, that rising prices will force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Those fears, though, seem forgotten for the moment.

Just one note here. Monday is tax day, a month later than usual. The IRS pushed the deadline so it could sort through tax changes in the latest COVID relief package. Monday is your new tax day.

Amazon and McDonald's -- they're trying to attract workers with higher pay. As hiring ramps up, many companies have struggled to find enough hourly workers and demand is soaring for their products and their services.

Amazon is offering 75,000 new workers a higher average wage and a $1,000 signing bonus.

McDonald's is also increasing its hourly pay by about 10 percent. Now, a caveat here. That pay bump only applies to corporate-owned restaurants -- just five percent of its stores. Ninety-five percent are franchises who can make their own decisions about wages.

Streaming carried Disney through the pandemic, of course, so a big subscriber miss is hurting Disney shares. Disney down about four percent overnight after Disney+ added six million fewer users than expected. Netflix also saw a subscriber miss last quarter.

Streaming, I guess, is slowing as the economy reopens and we're doing other things outside of our house. But while that hurts Disney+ it also helps other parts of Disney's business. For example, Disneyland in California reopened last month after being closed for more than a year.

JARRETT: OK, Christine, where is the tiger -- this tiger, missing for days in Houston? And there are still so many questions, like who has it? What's it been eating all week?

It could end up on the black market fueling illegal trade. And this is more common than you might think. Experts say there are more tigers in captivity in the United States than anywhere around the world. It's just incredible. So many questions.

Prince Harry once again pulling back the curtain on life as a member of the royal family. In a remarkably candid interview on actor Dax Shepard's podcast, Harry says growing up as a royal was a mixture of "THE TRUMAN SHOW" and being in a zoo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I never saw it. I never knew about it. And then suddenly, I started to piece it all together and go OK, so this is where he went to school.

This is what happened. I know this bit about his life. I also know that's connected to his parents.

MONICA PADMAN, ARMCHAIR EXPERT PODCAST: Yes.

PRINCE HARRY: So that means that he's treating me the way that he was treated.

PADMAN: Exactly.

PRINCE HARRY: Which means how can I change that for my own kids? And well, here I am. I've now moved my whole family to the U.S. Well, that wasn't the plan.

PADMAN: Exactly.

PRINCE HARRY: You know what I mean? But sometimes you've got to make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.

I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody but certainly, when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure that I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on, basically.

It's the job, right? Grin --

PADMAN: Yes.

PRINCE HARRY: Grin and bear it. Get on with it.

When I was in my early 20s I was a case of, like, I just -- I don't want this job.

PADMAN: Yes. PRINCE HARRY: I don't want to be here. I don't want to be doing this. Look what it did to my mum. How am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and a family when I know that it's going to happen again?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Harry also revealing because of the intense scrutiny by the paparazzi, he had a secret supermarket meet-up with Meghan Markle where they pretended not to know each other in the early days of their relationship.

ROMANS: Wow, that's so revealing.

All right, to Japan now where momentum is building to cancel the Tokyo Olympic Games. One top CEO, moments ago, called it a suicide mission.

CNN's Blake Essig is live in Tokyo. Blake, this is from ordinary citizens and now top medical officials.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, with each passing day, the chorus of voices opposing these Olympic Games is growing stronger and stronger.

And, of course, as you just mentioned, it includes Rakuten's CEO, the Amazon of Japan, who in an exclusive interview with CNN earlier today said the risk is too big and the decision to hold the Olympics is a suicide mission.

Now, separately, there was a petition with more than 352,000 signatures collected just this past week calling for the Games to be canceled. It was submitted in-person to Tokyo's Metropolitan government and by e-mail to the International Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

Now, at least 35 host cities have also canceled plans to welcome athletes from around the world in the buildup to the Games. But it's not just cities who are canceling, it's also Olympic teams -- most recently, USA Track and Field. It canceled their July training camp in Chiba Prefecture, saying that they don't see an end in sight to the pandemic and they expressed concern for the safety of the athletes.

[05:50:00]

Now, just yesterday, the head of the national medical doctors union in Japan, which consists of 130 doctors, said this. "It's tough for the athletes but someone has to say that the Games should be canceled. We made the request to the government as we think medical workers have to speak up. It is impossible to hold a safe and secure Olympics in Corona."

And as far as the current COVID-19 situation across Japan, there's concerned it's getting worse. Still, about one percent of the population has been fully vaccinated. Cases are on the rise. The number of severe cases has once again set a new record.

And at the top of the hour, Japan's prime minister is expected to announce if they will add another six prefectures to the current list of locations under full or partial state of emergency order. Now, if he does, that will bring the total to 19 prefectures out of 47.

All of this with just about 10 weeks to go before the Olympics. And, Christine, it is worth noting that the IOC maintains that these games are going to happen on schedule this summer.

ROMANS: All right. We will see what happens next.

Thank you so much. Blake Essig in Tokyo -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right.

Major League Baseball closely monitoring the New York Yankees after eight members of the organization test positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.

Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report. Coy, so most of them still asymptomatic, right?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, that's exactly right, Laura.

Yankees all-star Gleyber Torres is the latest to test positive, joining three coaches and four staff members in what are being called breakthrough cases. Only one had been showing symptoms, Laura.

The team says Torres, who previously had COVID-19 in December, and the others had all received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine but at different times. The Yankees say all eight are now asymptomatic and are in isolation in Tampa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN CASHMAN, GENERAL MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: The one thing I take from this is I believe the vaccine is working. You know, we've got eight positives and seven of the eight presented as without symptoms. So without the testing, you wouldn't even have known.

AARON BOONE, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: I think the one positive right now for us is that today was the first day of no new cases -- of no new. So all saliva tests from yesterday that have come back in today were all negative, and that's the first day that that's happened since we had our first case. So that, I hope, is good news and hopefully, means we're moving in the right direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right, Major League Baseball -- its medical experts and the New York State Department of Health are currently advising and assisting the Yankees who continue to undergo additional testing and contact tracing.

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit one step closer to racing in tomorrow's Preakness Stakes. The early favorite passed the first of three drug tests required by the Maryland Jockey Club and Maryland Racing Commission as a condition for entering the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

Medina Spirit tested positive for a restricted anti-inflammatory in a blood test taken after his Derby victory two weeks ago. If a second sample also comes back positive for the drug he will likely be disqualified.

How about this? The oldest active player in the NBA, Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem, made his season debut last night. The 40-year-old team captain getting a standing ovation from the crowd at home there.

But the 18-year vet is ejected in just about two minutes of play. He's giving Sixers center Dwight Howard the business after Howard had thrown Haslem to the ground going for this rebound. Both players end up getting double technical fouls.

After the game, Haslem says no regrets, man. My career might be over soon anyways. And you've got to love the hat that he had worn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UDONIS HASLEM, FORWARD, MIAMI HEAT: You know, just the adrenaline. You know, I appreciate the crowd. You know what I mean? My teammates -- you know, when I scored a basket I saw -- I noticed everybody over there cheering for me. It was -- it was a great -- a great memory. And if this is the last one, I finish it the only way Udonis Haslem could, with an ejection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: And a wild ending between the Astros and Rangers. Bottom of the 11th, Rangers reliever Brett Martin -- oh, my -- pitches in the dirt and the runner is safe. The score was tied at three and Houston's Myles Straw -- it looks like he was ready to make the mad dash from third, sliding into home for the Houston win.

And get this, Christine. Straw told reporters afterwards he was ready to run. He played against Martin in the minors and had seen him throw his breaking ball into the dirt before.

Here's hoping that you have a fun slide into your Friday as well.

ROMANS: Oh, yes -- sliding right into the weekend. All right, Coy. So nice to see you. Thank you much.

All right. A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein featuring his most famous equation is going up for auction. The one-page letter -- this was penned in 1946 -- it is believed to be the only -- the only handwritten example of the E=mc2 in private possession. It's estimated to be worth as much $400,000.

JARRETT: Finally this morning, here is one of the better and much- needed side effects of the pandemic. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill making alcohol-to-go permanent. The law is set to go into effect on July first, right in time for the Fourth of July.

[05:55:06] The restaurant industry has lobbied for the permanent change as many businesses have struggled throughout this pandemic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also made takeout cocktails permanent in Texas earlier this week.

ROMANS: The restaurant lobby certainly wanted this. I'm not sure public health officials are so excited about making it easier to walk around with cocktails, but we'll see.

JARRETT: You know what? It's summertime in the city.

ROMANS: It's summertime.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman.

On this new day, a monumental day in America as the CDC tells Americans they don't need masks in most situations if they're fully vaccinated. We'll answer your questions about that.

Plus, a CNN exclusive. A Capitol police officer joins us live moments from now to respond to lawmakers whitewashing the insurrection that he and his colleagues survived that.