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More Nations Require Vaccine 'Pass' to Enter Restaurants, Gyms; Slight Uptick in Vaccinations as Variant Spreads Across U.S.; FOX Viewers Dramatically Less Likely to Be Vaccinated; American Swimmers Make a Splash in Tokyo; China Looks to Outshine Japan at Next Year's Olympic Games. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 26, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY. More countries requiring a vaccine pass to get into bars, restaurants, gyms as the Delta variant spirals out of control. So is the U.S. next?

[05:59:34]

Plus, are TV viewing habits aligned with vaccination rates? We have brand-new numbers.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And as Capitol officers who survived the insurrection get ready to testify before the new January 6th committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes a dramatic move.

And after a driver hits a mother and her infant walking across the street, a dramatic rescue caught on video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. I got you. I got the baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We'll be speaking live with two of the police officers who heroically lifted a car to rescue them.

BERMAN: All right. Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, July 26.

Stark numbers this morning revealing the consequences of this optional portion of the pandemic, the one that doesn't need to be happening in the United States, really, at all.

COVID cases have quadrupled -- quadrupled -- in the past month. Hospitalizations more than doubled. And it is almost exclusively a pandemic of the unvaccinated, with more than half the country lagging behind the national vaccination average. This is what Dr. Fauci has to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGIES AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're going in the wrong direction, since we have 50 percent of the country is not fully vaccinated. That's a problem, particularly when you have a variant like Delta, which has this extraordinary characteristic of being able to spread very efficiently and very easily from person to person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: In Europe, a number of countries are also in the middle of a surge in cases. Thousands protested over the weekend in Paris as France is preparing to introduce COVID-19 health passes for entry into bars and into restaurants.

Israel and Italy putting together their own versions, and the United Kingdom could soon follow.

So let's go live now to London and bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz.

This is a pretty fascinating development of how these countries are dealing with this.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Brianna. I mean, if you're looking at a carrot and a stick approach, this is definitely the stick, because starting pretty soon, your access, your ability to go out is going to be severely limited if you don't have the vaccine.

So what's taking place here in the U.K.? Well, the authorities have said that they are examining the possibility of requiring anyone to prove that they have a vaccination, to prove they have that immunization if they're going to an event of 20,000 people or more.

They could start rolling this out in just a few weeks' time if it's approved at soccer stadiums during the English Premier League events. That could be coming up quickly, and it's a continuation of a policy we've already seen here.

The U.K. authorities just a few weeks ago announced you're going to need to prove that you're vaccinated to get into a nightclub starting September.

So why do this now? Well, as you said, they're following the suit of a lot of European countries. In Italy, it's called a green pass but still the same concept. Starting next month, you're going to have to have at least one dose of the vaccine just to get into a restaurant or a bar.

France, same thing, as well. Starting next month, you have to show a health pass to get into cinemas, bars, restaurants, any part of your social life, really.

And we saw tens of thousands of people in France, protesting against this, opposed to these new moves. They're keeping the French government of infringing on their civil liberties. There's a lot of labor unions, accusing the French government of limiting people's ability to have employment and get their salaries.

So a lot of concern there. But let me give you one example of how this does work. In the 18 hours after France announced these new rules, in just 18 hours, 792,000 people got their shot. So that's proof for the authorities this works. This pushes people to get the jab.

KEILAR: Yes, it certainly does. We're going to have more on this concept, because it is a big one, obviously, in Europe. It's potentially one here in America, although there's a lot of opposition to that. We'll be talking to a doctor about it.

Salma, thank you.

BERMAN: So that is Europe. What is happening in the United States with vaccinations? Joining me now, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten. And Harry, it's a little bit hard to detect here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BERMAN: But there is some good news with the rate of vaccinations.

ENTEN: It is. We -- if you look very, very closely, so this is basically the new folks who are getting vaccinated, which you can see as there's been a slight increase here recently on the order of about 100,000 or so new people getting vaccinated, the rate jump by 100,000 from last week to this week.

But again, we're not anywhere near where we were at the peak, but it does seem, as things have gotten a little bit worse with the Delta variant, that more people are, in fact, getting vaccinated.

BERMAN: I understand we're nowhere near where we were, but 100,000 in a week isn't insignificant. That's a big jump from week to week. Hopefully, it will continue. It needs to continue --

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- to get where we need to go. Geographically speaking, there is some good news about where people appear to be getting more vaccinated.

ENTEN: This to me is really interesting. Right? So let's look at the states with the most new weekly cases per 100,000.

And then let's take a look, ranked in terms of the vaccinations per hundred thousand. What we see is the places where we've been worse off -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, Mississippi -- generally speaking, have been very poor overall, compared to the rest of the nation. Only Florida is in the top half.

The rest of them, look at this, 37 for Missouri. Fiftieth, Mississippi. But look at the last week, because what we see here is something very interesting.

[06:05:06] Look at this. They're all in the top ten in terms of vaccinations in the last week. So, what it seems to be happening is, as things have gotten worse in these places, these states have jumped ahead of the national average, and more people are getting vaccinated. So it does seem that the places that were lagging, as they've seen Delta and seen how things have gotten worse in their own backyards, they've jumped ahead of the line, and more of those folks are getting vaccinated.

BERMAN: These are -- these are stark. I mean, this is really unbelievable. You see Arkansas go from 42nd to 2nd, you know, overall. I mean, it really is a huge disparity there.

FOX News.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Which, you know, you don't have to work hard there to find people dissing on vaccines, until recently. Some of their, you know -- some of their people --

ENTEN: Some of them. Some of them.

BERMAN: Started suggesting, Hey, science works, vaccines work. Why?

ENTEN: Here's the reason why. Look at this. So this is age 18, adults with at least one COVID vaccine dose by their main source of news.

Look at this: FOX News, just 62 percent of people who use FOX News as their main news source have at least one dose. Compare that to ABC News, ABC, CBS, NBC, 79 percent. This network and MSNBC, 83 percent.

So what we see is about 20 points less of the FOX News audience has been vaccinated, compared to the people who get their news from, say, some other television outlet.

BERMAN: The trend lines here are also revealing. Yes?

ENTEN: Very revealing. This gets at something so interesting to me is if you look back to, say, mid-April to mid-June, look here. CNN, MSNBC, 74 percent of the audience was vaccinated. ABC, 75 percent. FOX News, 61 percent.

Now jump ahead to their numbers from late June and late July. Look at this: FOX News just went from 61 to 62. Barely a move at all over the last month and a half, compared to, say, the ABC, CBS, NBC crowd, a four-point jump from 75 to 79. And a CNN, MSNBC crowd, look at that. A jump from 74 percent to 83 percent.

So what we're seeing is it's not only that FOX News is lagging, but it's also that the trend line is in a poor direction, where they really -- the audience that was vaccinated continues to be vaccinated, obviously, but not a lot of new people getting vaccinated, even though we're seeing that from people who get their news from, say, another network.

BERMAN: And this matters a lot when you're talking about FOX viewers. Why?

ENTEN: Here's why it matters. Why is it so important for the FOX News audience to get vaccinated? Look at the average age of the FOX News audience. It's 55. It's well above all adults who are just at 48.

And we know, although, obviously, younger people now are making up a larger share of the deaths, it's still overwhelmingly old folks who are passing away, unfortunately, from this.

It's proportion of June COVID deaths. Look at this: age 50 to 64, 26 percent. Age 65 plus, 64 percent. Just 10 percent under the age of 50.

So when you have an older audience, it's so important that they get vaccinated, because they're the ones who have the most danger, unfortunately, from COVID.

BERMAN: Yes. These are the people who need to be vaccinated most. And there are a lot of them watching that other network there. So it's good that finally, some of them may be getting a good message.

ENTEN: I hope so. Look, this should be a nonpartisan issue. Folks should get vaccinated.

If you are not vaccinated in our audience, go out there. The vaccines are safe, and you should get vaccinated, because it could save your life.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Brianna.

KEILAR: Such important numbers. Thank you, Harry.

The White House says the states with the lowest vaccination rates are driving this recent case surge. Forty percent of the country's new infections last week were in just three states: Missouri, Texas and Florida.

And joining us now is Dr. David de la Zerda. He is the ICU medical director and pulmonologist at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Doctor, thank you for being with us this morning. Can you tell us what you're seeing there in Florida as cases are spiking?

DR. DAVID DE LA ZERDA, ICU MEDICAL DIRECTOR AND PULMONOLOGIST, JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL IN MIAMI: Hi, good morning.

So, we have an increase in the number of ICU beds that we're using for COVID. As you point out, most of our patients are unvaccinated. We only have about 2 percent of patients in the ICU that are vaccinated. So, it's really an issue with patients that are not vaccinated here in Miami.

KEILAR: OK. So it's the unvaccinated patients accounting for 98 percent of the ICU beds. That 2 percent of vaccinated patients, they are the breakthrough infections. You know, tell us who they are. Are these people who are in good health? Or are these folks who are immunocompromised?

DE LA ZERDA: So there are many immunocompromised. We have here a lot of transplant programs, so most of these patients are with transplant, kidney transplant, lung transplants and also some patients with obesity and hypertension. That's the ones we're seeing with COVID vaccines.

KEILAR: Do you consider Florida right now to be the new epicenter of the unvaccinated pandemic?

DE LA ZERDA: Oh, for sure. I think that's our major issue here in Florida.

KEILAR: So right now, vaccine mandates by the government appear unlikely, even if -- even if they might be necessary. Should there be a vaccine pass system like we are seeing implemented and considered in Europe?

[06:10:08]

DE LA ZERDA: Yes. I think so. I think unvaccinated people don't understand, it's not only about them. It's about all of us. So that's why I think a green pass should be implemented.

KEILAR: What do you say -- Obviously, there's going to be opposition to that. You've heard opposition to -- this idea of a vaccine passport, but looking at France, where you will need to have a pass in order to get into a bar or a restaurant, you know, what do you say to people who are resistant to that?

DE LA ZERDA: I think it's the only way we can protect us as a society. You know, when Israel had that green passport, that works much better. The infections were lower. Since they opened up, you can see what is happening. Increase in infection, this Delta variant.

So I think it's the solution. If you don't want to get vaccinated, stay home, but don't go out and infect somebody else.

KEILAR: Then you're telling people to stay home if they're unvaccinated. We had another doctor on CNN who said, if you are unvaccinated, you should stay away from indoor venues like bars and restaurants. So it sounds like you agree with that.

DE LA ZERDA: A hundred percent. If you choose not to get vaccinated, it's up to you. But the rest of the society should not be affected by your decision.

KEILAR: Right now, when you look at Florida, the vaccination rate there is -- it's at about 48.5 percent. That is less than a percentage point behind the national average.

What does that tell you about the vulnerability of the nation at large and of other states, as well? DE LA ZERDA: No. It's very concerning. Also, you point out here in

Florida we have a lot of people that come and retire here in Florida, so these are very vulnerable patients we've seen with further spread.

So for me, it's really concerning. And the amount of ICU cases we've seen in the last week or so is concerning. So, people should go out and get vaccinated.

KEILAR: It's a good point. More vulnerable population, more vaccinations needed. Dr. David de la Zerda, thank you so much for joining us from Miami.

DE LA ZERDA: Thank you very much for having me. Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, the first hearing of the select committee into the Capitol riot. It's now just a day away, and we have a preview of the testimony and also the evidence. Some of it's new. What we can expect.

BERMAN: A driver slams into a mother holding her baby daughter. They both survive, thanks to some quick-thinking officers. We'll show you the dramatic rescue, caught on camera.

KEILAR: And the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team stumbling in the opening days of the Olympics. What Simone Biles is saying in a live report from Tokyo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:51]

KEILAR: Team USA Swimming is just crushing it in Tokyo, off to their best start ever at the Olympics. So, let's check in now with Coy Wire. He is in Tokyo with this morning's "Bleacher Report" -- Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, good morning from Japan.

Brianna, domination continuing for the U.S. being the fastest men in the pool on the planet. They swam the third fastest men's four by 100- meter relay ever.

Caeleb Dressel getting the guys out of the gate first and fast. Sheer power, Dressel putting to use all those plyometric training exercises he did in a garage during the pandemic. Leaping out to a huge leap.

Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker toed the line in the middle, and then Zach Apple brought it home strong. The U.S. Men have won this event 10 of the 13 times it's ever been raced.

America's facing some set-backs, too. Swimming sensation Katie Ledecky stunned by Ariarne Titmus, settling for silver in the 400-by -- 400- meter freestyle.

The significance was summed up, Brianna, in a reaction of the Australian coach. It was the second fastest time ever, behind Ledecky's world record. Katie told me afterwards, "I'm already mentally on to the next race."

You can sense, though, that this loss lit an even bigger fire under her, with her best events yet to come, the 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyles.

Let's take a look at the medal count, China leading the way with 15 total. Team USA coming up big, following close behind with 14. Half of those are gold.

Host nation Japan inspiring with 10 total medals. Team USA gymnastics, even the GOAT, Simone Biles, showing that maybe they're human after all.

Biles reacted to her performance on Instagram, posting in part, "Wasn't an easy day. I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know. Brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me, but damn, sometimes it's hard," she wrote with a laugh.

The 24-year-old didn't seem to be on her "A"-game during qualifications. But advanced to the all-around final as well as a clean sweep of the individual events: floor, balance beam, vault, and uneven bars.

Biles is trying to become the first woman to repeat as the all-around Olympic gymnastics champ in 53 years.

U.S. Men's Basketball making the wrong kind of history, upset by France in the opening game of group play. The 83-76 loss snapping a 25-game win streak dating all the way back to 2004, Brianna.

COVID issues, players having to arrive late because they were playing in the finals, all hurting the chemistry of the team so far, and it showed.

Next up for the Americans is Iran on Wednesday. They're taking a beating on social media. We'll see if Team USA can get things turned back around.

KEILAR: What a bummer for Team USA Basketball. But look, these are the highs and lows of the Olympics. I just love that Australian coach's reaction. That was hilarious.

BERMAN: Is it --

WIRE: You could make that -- you could play that on repeat all morning to get you pumped up.

BERMAN: As someone of Australian heritage, Brianna Keilar, is that a natural way to react to good news? Because I haven't seen it here yet. Is that something I can expect over the next several mornings?

KEILAR: Yes, yes, yes. I'll bring it off-camera.

BERMAN: He looked like he was going to pull a muscle, frankly, at one point there. I was concerned for his wellbeing, he was so excited. KEILAR: I love it.

[06:20:04]

BERMAN: All right. Coy, thank you very much.

So as the Olympics are under way in Tokyo, China is looking to outshine Japan at next year's Winter Games. The winter ones.

CNN's Selina Wang live in Tokyo with more.

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, these are not the Olympics of Japan's dreams. I've been to a few of the events, and it' is just surreal to see athletes like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka competing in these nearly empty stadiums.

And now with more than 150 COVID-19 cases in Japan linked to the Olympics, and rival Beijing hosting the Winter Games just six months after, the stakes for Japan are immense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WANG (voice-over): A year and a half into the pandemic, it's clear these aren't the Olympics Japan was hoping for.

The games were supposed to be the nation's comeback, after decades of economic stagnation and devastation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but COVID-19 derailed those dreams.

WANG (on camera): After spending more than $15 billion for these Summer Games, Japan is projected to lose billions. With no economic boost from foreign tourists, fans banned from almost every Olympic venue, and a subdued opening ceremony at this national stadium that the country spent more than $1 billion building.

WANG (voice-over): And now, the country, along with the IOC, plow ahead, ignoring cancellation calls from doctors, sponsors and business leaders.

HIROSHI MIKITANI, RAKUTEN CEO: I call this is a suicide mission, to be very honest.

WANG: With just barely over 20 percent of Japan's population fully vaccinated, the games have also highlighted Japan's current place in the pandemic, a slow start to its vaccine rollout paired with surging cases in Tokyo, the host city remaining under a state of emergency during the entirety of the Olympics.

It's the exact scenario Japan wanted to avoid, losing center stage to geopolitical rival China, host of the Winter Olympics just six months after.

DAVID LEHENY, WASEDA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: I absolutely think that the Tokyo Olympics could be a boon for China, especially if they get to contrast a Winter Olympics in which you have a large number of spectators in the stands, with a much more quiet, in some cases, desultory, Japanese Olympics in which there's no one in the stands.

WANG (on camera): How much of a role does fear of losing face to China, getting upstaged by China factor into these games going ahead?

LEHENY: If the next Olympics were to be hosted by a country with which Japan had a friendlier relationship, then perhaps Japan canceling the Olympics wouldn't be considered quite as catastrophic.

WANG: Beijing could bring an entirely different experience than here in Japan: stands full of spectators, without COVID-19 taking center stage.

China has claimed its draconian measures helped beat COVID-19 and has administered enough doses to fully vaccinate more than 40 percent of its population of $1.3 billion people.

But the stakes are equally high for Beijing. Its global reputation plunged for its initial handling of the pandemic. In a boost to Japan, some global leaders, including U.S. first lady Jill Biden, have attended the Tokyo games.

But things might be a bit different in a few months, with calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics and criticism of its authoritarian system only likely to grow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WANG: John, Beijing's alleged mass detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities will cast a shadow over the Winter Games, but we're starting to see a mood shift here in Japan as more inspiring stories of these athletes start to come out.

But it still is unclear if Japan is going to be remembered for bringing the world together during the pandemic or for putting people's lives at risk -- John.

BERMAN: Yes. Look, you have to feel for the athletes right now. You want their performance in this moment, for them really to dominate the headlines and shine through, but it's hard with so much else going on. Really interesting perspective. Selina Wang, thank you very much.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi choosing a second Republican for the select committee into the Capitol attack. We're going to have a preview of tomorrow's first hearing, next.

KEILAR: And police and good Samaritans jumping into action to save a little girl. The new body cam video following a horrific crash, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:25]

KEILAR: The House select committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol is getting a second Republican. Congressman Adam Kinzinger is joining Liz Cheney and several Democrats on this committee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing Kinzinger's appointment

yesterday, just days after she rejected two of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's five picks, and then McCarthy responded by pulling all five of his picks.

CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox here now with the latest. And they're actually meeting today, Lauren, before this first hearing tomorrow. What are we expecting?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Brianna.

They're trying to prep ahead of this hearing, especially with the newest member of this committee. Like you said, Republican Adam Kinzinger asked to join the select committee officially yesterday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Obviously, he's an important edition here, because she joins Liz Cheney, another Republican, on this committee. And this is all anticipated to try to bolster that bipartisanship on this committee, because the concern for a while, especially last week after Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy were going back and forth about the membership here, was was this going to be truly bipartisan?

The effort here, obviously, with these two members is to make it more bipartisan.

Now, we also expect testimony tomorrow to be heard from those four officers who were present at the Capitol insurrection. And their stories have been public before, but they're also very important.

You have people like Fanone, who we expect are going to be talking about being Tased multiple times by this crowd and experiencing a traumatic brain injury.

We also expect we're going to be hearing from people like Harry Dunn, who's a Capitol Police officer, someone who says he had racial slurs hurled at him repeatedly throughout January 6.

These are going to be emotional accounts.