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NFL Threatens Teams: Forfeit Games if Unvaccinated Outbreaks; Olympics to Begin in Shadow of Pandemic; Female Athletes Battling Inequality at Tokyo Games; U.S. Strikes Taliban to Help Afghan Soldiers Amid Offensive; Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago Still On Despite Surging Cases; Less Than a Third of U.S. Teens Returning to School are Vaccinated. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 23, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

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

[06:00:04]

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST/ANCHOR: Good morning. Happy Friday.

KEILAR: Good morning to you. Happy Friday indeed. And good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

It is Friday, July 23, and Alabama's Republican governor says it bluntly. It is time to start blaming the unvaccinated, she says, for the current state of the pandemic, despite a lifesaving shot being available to every American, 12 and older.

In the past 30 days, coronavirus cases around the country have nearly quadrupled, hospitalizations almost doubling. And most of those by people who refuse to get vaccinated.

And if outbreaks among unvaccinated players hit NFL teams this season, the league may force them to forfeit the game.

AVLON: Well, COVID or not, the Olympics are officially under way this morning in Tokyo after a year of delays and uncertainty.

First lady Jill Biden is there, meeting with Japan's emperor, and she's one of 950 VIPs invited to attend the opening ceremonies today in a mostly empty stadium because of COVID restrictions.

And as of this morning, there are at least 110 COVID cases in Japan directly linked to the Olympics.

So let's go live in Tokyo and bring in CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, what are you seeing?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANCHOR: Well, guys, I mean, you say that there's fewer than 1,000 people that are going to be inside Olympic stadium behind me. It holds 68,000 people. So that gives you an idea of what it will feel like in there. We'll see what it looks like on television, but the feel is going to be very different.

But I want to go back to something we were talking about with the NFL. You know, it's interesting, because sports so many times throughout this pandemic has led the way in terms of making some changes.

You know, with the NBA bubble, for example, this NFL policy is going to be really interesting. It's going to be provocative. It's going to be contentious, but it might make a difference.

We took a little bit of a deeper dive into it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): With the first pre-season game less than two weeks away, the National Football League is sending a warning to unvaccinated players.

CNN obtaining this memo, sent league-wide on Thursday, saying, "If a game cannot be rescheduled within the current 18-week schedule and is cancelled due to a COVID outbreak among nonvaccinated players, the club with the outbreak will forfeit the contest."

The threat comes with financial consequences, too. According to the memo, "If a postponed game can't be rescheduled, players from neither team will receive their scheduled salary, and the team with the outbreak will be responsible for all additional expenses incurred by the opposing team.

RICH EISEN, REPORTER, NFL NETWORK: Last year when we did not have a vaccine to help out, the NFL held a game on every day of the week. And the NFL does not want to do that again. Nor should they do that again if there is science that can be relied on to make things potentially easier and safer.

GUPTA: Some current players, like DeAndre Hopkins, turning to Twitter to complain about the new rules. The Arizona Cardinals wide receiver tweeting and deleting, "Never thought I would say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because I don't want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL."

And Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley, who tweeted in June, "I may die of COVID, but I'd rather die actually living," writing last night, "Nothing has changed. I'm still living freely."

But according to the NFL, most players are choosing to get the vaccine, saying at least 78 percent have received at least one dose, and 14 of the 32 teams have reached above the 85-percent vaccination threshold.

In 2020, the league experienced several postponed games due to coronavirus outbreaks.

DR. ALLEN SILLS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NFL; We had an outbreak in Tennessee, and we when we went in and really dug into that and tried to understand how did transmission occur despite our protocols, that's when we began to realize it wasn't just six feet and 15 minutes. GUPTA: I spoke to the NFL's chief medical officer throughout the

season about navigating the sport during the pandemic.

(on camera): How hard would it be to replicate what you were able to do at the NFL?

SILLS: What prevented transmission was mask usage; avoiding in-person meetings; staying in the open-air environments; not eating together; prompt symptom reporting; isolation of anybody that's exposed.

GUPTA (voice-over): Now, while the nation faces a summer surge fueled by the Delta variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he thinks the NFL's move could encourage others to enforce similar vaccine protocols to help slow the spread of the virus.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think the NFL is sending a very strong signal that it's very important to get vaccinated. If you want to play football and you want to do it in a way that you are -- feel unrestricted and not worry about any penalties, you just get vaccinated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And Sanjay --

GUPTA: So there you have it, then. So you heard sort of the plan there with the NFL. As I mentioned, it's going to be provocative. It's going to be contentious, I think. But it might make a difference for those players, but maybe for the fans who watch those players, as well.

[06:05:12]

KEILAR: Yes. Let's hope it is. And you know, I also want to talk to you about health officials in Los Angeles County, because they're saying that breakthrough cases there now account for 20 percent of all new infections. I know that's going to raise eyebrows for a lot of people who are vaccinated. Should vaccinated people be worried here?

GUPTA: This is -- this is going to be really important to watch. I mean, I'll tell you a couple things.

First of all, as more people get vaccinated, the percentage of people who have these breakthrough infections will go up. That's just the math of things. So that part doesn't surprise me.

But what I think we're seeing here is a bit of a frame shift. If you're vaccinated, you're still really well-protected against getting serious disease, being hospitalized and dying. That data has held up even with the Delta variant.

But it doesn't mean people might not still, you know, get infected as you're saying, the 20 percent, but also, you know, start to develop milder illness, not enough to land you in the hospital but still, you know, a rough few days of illness which nobody wants. I think it's really important to remind people that you don't want

this virus regardless. We still -- there's so much about it we don't know. The long haulers, that's a potential concern even for people who have mild disease.

So, yes, I mean, this is concerning. It's just a reminder of just how contagious this is and why we need to get people vaccinated so we can bring this pandemic to a halt.

AVLON: And that really is the key point, though, that if you're unvaccinated, this is a pandemic among the unvaccinated primarily. Even though we are having these breakthrough cases, there's very few cases of hospitalizations, let alone death.

Sanjay, I want to bring us back to the Olympics. You're outside the stadium. This is a surreal Olympics. It's a kind of a ghost Olympics, you know, with all these empty seats.

So what's the mood there at what's usually a time of massive celebration and excitement?

GUPTA: John, you know, it's a -- it's a tale of two cities. You know, you have excitement, and you have anxiety at the same time. You have the Olympics, and you have people who are genuinely worried.

You know, eight out of ten people roughly, the local citizens did not want these Olympics to happen here at this time, because, you know, we're in a state of emergency.

It's hard to sort of, you know, wrap your mind around the fact that you're going to have probably the largest global gathering since this pandemic began in a city that's in a state of emergency.

If you look at the numbers -- we can show the numbers -- they've been going up steadily here, and that's part of what's fueling the concern. So you know, I think that the mood is both those things.

You see what's happening. I don't know if you can hear there's a lot of excitement on the street just behind us -- behind me, underneath the stadium.

Inside the stadium, though, it's going to be pretty quiet. There's not going to be a lot of people in there. And that's sort of what the mood is like. It's this sort of study in contrasts right now because of what COVID is doing.

What the focus is, is to make sure that -- that what's happening in the Olympic Village and at these Olympics does not create surges in the city of Tokyo or the country of Japan. So far, they think that they've got that under control, but that's what they're going to be monitoring very closely over the next few weeks.

KEILAR: All right. We will be, too. Sanjay, thank you so much. Live for us from the games in Tokyo.

GUPTA: Got it. KEILAR: And while much of the focus on the Olympics has been navigating the pandemic, female athletes, in particular, have been dealing with a host of other issues when it comes to inequality.

So let's take a look at this. Here to break it down for us is CNN "EARLY START" anchor Laura Jarrett. What are we looking at here, Laura?

LAURA JARRETT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": So Brianna, organizers of Tokyo Olympics say this will be the most equal games in history, with women making up nearly half of all athletes competing over the next several weeks.

But in reality, female athletes still face plenty of obstacles, some obvious, others more subtle. Back in June, U.S. Women's Soccer star Alex Morgan and others took on Olympic organizers after the organizing committee said that nursing mothers would be allowed to bring their young children to the games only, quote, "when necessary."

What does that mean? Well, this is what Alex Morgan said, tweeting, "We are Olympic mothers telling you it is necessary."

And yet some athletes, like Spanish synchronized swimmer Olga Vargas were forced to leave their infants at home, given that children have to stay in a hotel room separate from their moms.

Then there's the pair of Namibian track phenoms, teens that were barred from the women's 400-meter dash because their natural testosterone levels are too high.

Forced to choose between taking drugs to lower their hormone levels or forfeit the spot in the Olympics, the pair is now left in no-man's land, much like Caster Semenya, who lost her legal battle over the same issue in 2019.

And finally, if it's not breast-feeding or hormones, what about plain old wage discrimination?

Despite their historic success, players on the U.S. Women's national soccer team still earn only 89 cents for every dollar that get paid to men. And they get less money in prizes and less money in bonuses.

[06:10:11]

So equal pay somehow still elusive even in 2021, even when you are fighting for Olympic gold for the home team, Brianna.

KEILAR: Man, your story is ticking me off, Laura. I know that's the point of it, but I mean, from the beginning there, especially you're talking about mothers with children. It's just -- oh my goodness. Where are we?

JARRETT: Hard choices, right?

KEILAR: Yes. Laura, thank you for taking us through that.

JARRETT: Sure.

KEILAR: Summer camps are reporting some new outbreaks, so what is the effect of the Delta variant on children? We're going to speak with a pediatrician.

AVLON: Plus, just -- despite just weeks to go before the U.S. fully leaves Afghanistan, Americans are striking the Taliban overnight.

And we'll speak with the author who interviewed Donald Trump during his unhinged and, frankly, delusional rants about the election.

This is NEW DAY.

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[06:15:12]

AVLON: Developing overnight, the U.S. military conducting air strikes against the Taliban in support of Afghan forces, marking at least six strikes in the last 30 days. Officials say they targeted stolen military vehicles and equipment that was directly threatening the Afghan military.

So is this the new normal? Or is this on the way out?

CNN's Oren Liebermann live at the Pentagon with more -- Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, the U.S. carried out a pair of air strikes in the strategically important Kandahar province early Thursday morning against the Taliban in support of Afghan forces.

The U.S. went after captured equipment, for example, stolen vehicles. That is, equipment that was handed over from the U.S. to the Afghan military as part of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, and then it was then seized by the Taliban as it sweeps across the country.

The U.S., as you pointed out, has carried out about six or seven air strikes against the Taliban in support of the Afghans over the course of the past 30 days. That's a decreased pace.

Prior to that, it was a near daily occurrence as the withdrawal of U.S. forces continued towards that August 31 end date, when all U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan.

Crucially, according to a defense official, three of the last four strikes, mostly carried out by drones, have been against this captured equipment. That's an indication that the U.S. military and commanders there have decided they will not let U.S. equipment be used by the Taliban against Afghan security forces in strategically important areas.

That being said, the Taliban has made swift gains across the country. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, said earlier this week the Taliban now controls some 212 districts across the country out of 419. So about half the districts in the country. They have not yet taken over the 34 provincial capitals, but they've

surrounded about half of them, as well as Kabul, in what appears to be an attempt to isolate the population centers for the day after the U.S. withdrawal is complete.

John, as part of this, the U.S. is debating what to do after August 31. It is expected there could be more of these air strikes, and commanders of Central Command retain the authority to carry out such air strikes.

But what happens the day after the withdrawal is complete and U.S. forces are out of the country? That is still being discussed and decided.

AVLON: Such an important story. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much.

All right. The race to vaccinate America's teens. We have new numbers as parents and students prepare already for the new school year.

KEILAR: And despite raising cases, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend next week's Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. So why does the mayor think it's safe? We'll see.

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[06:21:59]

KEILAR: One of the country's largest music festivals will go on next week, despite a surge in coronavirus cases. The four-day Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago has attracted more than 100 thousand people per day in the past, and this year's event will be at full capacity.

The entry protocols will require a full vaccination or a negative COVID test. But critics and some doctors still say that this is a terrible idea.

Omar Jimenez has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Omar Jimenez in Chicago.

Lollapalooza is less than a week away. But COVID-19 cases here in Chicago are up 86 percent from where they were a week ago, driven by the unvaccinated, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Now, for context, the city-wide positivity rate is still 1.9 percent. So low, but an 86 percent increase isn't the direction officials want to see things headed in.

Despite that, the festival is still scheduled to be back at full capacity, but like before, you have to be either fully vaccinated or present a negative COVID test within 72 hours of attending to get in.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KEILAR: That -- Omar Jimenez, thank you so much for that report.

That's the reality here, right, that we're looking at. Lollapalooza, we were just reminiscing about how much we miss music, but this is what people are facing. They really want to get back there.

AVLON: They are. And I have the OGT shirt from the Pearl Jam season. So --

KEILAR: Yes. Would you go to this one, though? That's the question.

AVLON: No. Only if you're vaccinated. People should have to be vaccinated to go to these things.

KEILAR: Yes.

AVLON: Don't mess with Lollapalooza, folks.

OK. Millions of teens will be heading back to school in the coming weeks. And a new CNN analysis finds that less than a third of them will be fully vaccinated.

With rules on mask requirements varying by state, those unvaccinated and unprotected students could be returning to school at a great risk.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more on just how many young Americans have received a COVID shot so far. So Jacqueline, what are you seeing?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: John, it's interesting what we're seeing. So you know, when the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for ages 12 and older back in May, there was an immediate uptake of vaccine. But that seems to have taken a nose dive.

And here is where we are now. I'll take you through the numbers.

So we analyzed CDC data, and we found that about 30 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds will be fully vaccinated in two weeks, when many of them will be heading back to school.

Now, that includes the 7 million who are currently fully vaccinated, and then we estimate an additional 600,000 may be fully vaccinated in the next two weeks, based on current trends.

And what I mean by fully vaccinated, you know by now, it's two weeks after getting your second dose of vaccine after completing a vaccination schedule.

So if you have a teen in high school right now, and they get their first dose today, they won't be fully vaccinated until five weeks from now, because they get their second dose in three weeks and then you need the two weeks after that to be fully vaccinated.

John, we're going to continue tracking this. If there's a high school that has most students who are fully vaccinated, you know, they can build herd immunity, and that means they'll be less likely to see an outbreak, compared with schools where most students are unvaccinated.

[06:25:14]

So we'll keep an eye on this, John.

AVLON: So important. We sure will. And bringing us the data is incredibly important. Jacqueline, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Yes. We have so many questions when it comes to kids and coronavirus and vaccines.

So let's talk about this now with Dr. Edith Sanchez, who is a primary care pediatrician with Colombia University, Irving Medical Center and assistant professor of pediatrics at Colombia University, Irving Medical.

Doctor, thank you for being with us this morning. You know, just tell us how dangerous this Delta variant is for children under 12 who obviously can't get vaccinated yet.

DR. EDITH SANCHEZ, PRIMARY CARE PEDIATRICIAN, COLOMBIA UNIVERSITY, IRVING MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning, Brianna. It's great to be with you guys.

And I wish I could tell you exactly just how dangerous this is. The truth is, we don't know. We know that the Delta variant is spreading more easily than other variants have in the past. That is what viruses do. They mutate so that they can spread easier among the hosts, which is us, unfortunately.

And we're seeing more infections in kids. We don't know yet how severe this is. I can tell you anecdotally on the ground, it doesn't seem like the kids who are getting this variant are having a more severe illness. But we just don't know enough yet, Brianna, which is why this is so concerning.

KEILAR: Yes. And look, kids often don't show many symptoms. But we do know that hundreds have died in the U.S. So this is an issue that many parents are not going to ignore.

And we're seeing some rare breakthrough cases in adults. They're rare, but they're happening.

And CNN spoke with a woman where both she and her husband are fully vaccinated, but they got sick, and they infected their young children. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids have been really, really sick: 103 fevers, diarrhea and vomiting. And it's been especially scary with a baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Yes, of course, it is there. I wonder what is the likelihood of this happening, and how can we stop it?

SANCHEZ: Brianna, I think the most important thing for everyone who qualifies to get vaccinated right now is to go ahead and do that. We are seeing breakthrough infections, as you mentioned, as it happened to this family, which is so unfortunate, but they're still very, very rare. If you are vaccinated, the chances of this happening are small.

Now I would say it is prudent, if you are around children, to go ahead and take precautions. We know that being outdoors is safer. We know that if you are outdoors but you're in a crowded space, you should go ahead and mask up.

I hate to say it. People are over-masked. So am I. But if you are around children, this is going to be really important, because as I mentioned, the risk is small, but it is real.

KEILAR: Yes, it is. I have a 3- and a 5-year-old, so you know, I'm sort of feeling this every day. What should I be doing? I'm vaccinated, but what should I be doing to keep them safe?

And we're listening to parents like a dad that we spoke with yesterday, who is vaccinated. But his daughter, of course, is unvaccinated. She tested positive first. And then he and his wife tested positive, and they became symptomatic.

I wonder in the case of parents who are being vaccinated, as you say, that's the most important thing, is it more likely that they spread it to their kids or that their kids spread it to them?

SANCHEZ: So, I would say it is more likely that they spread it to their kids than the kids spread it to them, because once you are vaccinated, we know that the protection is very, very high. These vaccines are amazing. They are the best vaccines that we've had in a very long time in the market.

And remember, as a pediatrician, I give a lot of vaccines. And when I look at the data for efficacy, for safety for these vaccines, in particular, they're truly a miracle of science, Brianna.

So if the parents are vaccinated, the risk that they're going to contract COVID-19 from their kids is very, very small at this time.

KEILAR: Yes. That's a very good warning, I think, to parents who are trying to navigate this.

Dr. Edith Bracho Sanchez, thank you for being with us.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for having me.

KEILAR: Coming up, we have a new book detailing the final months of the Trump presidency and a stunning admission from the former president almost a year into the pandemic.

AVLON: And healthcare workers fighting back another surge in COVID cases, as well as extreme resistance to vaccines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did anyone you know get COVID?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son had COVID.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old is he?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. So that's pretty rare for a young kid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's that like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was sick a lot. He's been sick a lot for a while. And he's still sick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys going to get the vaccine?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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