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New Day

Family of COVID Victim Speaks Out; Olympic Sprinter Seeks Refuge in Tokyo; GOP Can't Quit COVID Disinformation as Cases Spike; Obama Hosts Birthday Party on Martha's Vineyard. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 02, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:28]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A Las Vegas family is mourning the loss of a father this morning. Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Freedy. He found himself intubated in the ICU where he lost his battle with COVID on Thursday. Michael was unvaccinated. One of the final texts he sent to his fiance, Jessica, read, I should have gotten the damn vaccine.

Joining us now is Michael's fiance, Jessica DuPreez.

Jessica, I am so sorry for your loss.

Your fiance sounds like such a dynamic man. You describe him as larger than life.

What happened?

JESSICA DUPREEZ, UNVACCINATED FIANCE MICHAEL DIED FROM COVID-19: It went -- it really went fast. I mean -- and the symptoms -- I'm so sorry. It's just -- he went from -- we thought it was like a severe sunburn to then it was he tested positive to COVID. Then it was, that night he went in for pneumonia. They -- he couldn't breathe. Then he had the double lung pneumonia. Then it was like, let's move him to two different hospitals to get more oxygen. And then they were, OK, we've got to intubate him. And then it's like, OK, it's good. And then he was just gone. It was just so fast.

BERMAN: And the two of you were waiting to get vaccinated.

DUPREEZ: Yes.

BERMAN: Why?

DUPREEZ: We just wanted to watch and kind of see what was going on with everything. And I know that there's a lot of people out there like, well, the science is already there. We just wanted to wait a year from when it started to be -- when it came out, like when it started to be available to people, like, just to watch and see what people's reactions were to it. We didn't think a year would matter.

BERMAN: So hard to see that text from him when he's in the hospital saying, I wish I had gotten the damn vaccine.

You did. The minute -- you know, the minute he went into the hospital, you went out and got the vaccine. Why?

DUPREEZ: We actually -- we got it the day he got diagnosed, when he -- he came back positive, me and our oldest, that we went and tested negative and we're like, OK, well he's going to be in the house with it. So it's going to be right here. We talked -- we were like, might as well get it because -- keep you guys as safe as we can since it's right here. There's no way to really isolate with a family our size for so -- you know what I mean, he's going to still be in the house.

BERMAN: Do you think he would still be with you, Michael, had he been vaccinated?

[08:35:03]

DUPREEZ: I do. I think that it at least would have lessened the symptoms and he could have fought longer and had a better chance.

BERMAN: I know how hard this is. And I know between you, you have -- you have five children now who are missing their father and just coming to terms with it.

Just talk to me about what you're all going through.

DUPREEZ: It's surreal. Our seven-year-old, he's such a softy. He sends texts to his dad's phone. Like, the very first one was, dad, are you still alive. They keep -- they've all been sleeping in my room. They all come in my room at some various point during the night and ask if they can sleep in the bed with me. So -- except for the 17-year-old. But all the littles, they miss him most I think at night when there's nothing to occupy their minds anymore. Or they'll come to me and be like, hey, when's dad coming home? And then they're like, oh, yes, he's not.

BERMAN: If there's any message that you could send to other people, other families around the country right now when it comes to vaccinations, what would that be?

DUPREEZ: If you're hesitating, it's not worth hesitating for. I'm not going to be able to change anybody's mind who's directly against it. But those of you that are hesitating and think it can't happen to me because I'm young and -- it can. And then you're going to be sitting there wondering why you didn't. And you're not going to be able to hug your family again. And it could -- you could beat it. But then again, you could leave your family without you and it's just not worth it.

BERMAN: Listen, Jessica, again, I am so sorry -- we are so sorry for your loss.

DUPREEZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Please, you know, hug your children tight for all of us and know that we're thinking of you.

DUPREEZ: (INAUDIBLE). Thank you.

BERMAN: Jessica DuPreez. Her husband, Michael Freedy.

We'll be back in just a moment.

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[08:41:09]

KEILAR: A Belarusian Olympic sprinter is staying at the Polish embassy in Tokyo after claiming her team forcibly removed here from the games. She refused to get on a flight from Tokyo to Belarus on Sunday after being taken to the airport against her wishes.

Selina Wang is live for us in Tokyo.

Selina, tell us what is happening here and if there's a long-term plan for this sprinter to be granted asylum?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, I'm actually outside of the Polish embassy here in Tokyo where Krytsina Tsimanouskaya had entered earlier. According to Poland's deputy foreign minister, she has, in fact, received a humanitarian visa and that he said Poland will do whatever necessary to help her continue her sporting career.

Now, Brianna, she was set to compete in the 200-meter heats on Monday. But on Sunday, representatives of the Belarus national team came to the Olympic village, told her to pack up her bags and go back to Belarus.

Now, when she got to the airport, she approached a Japanese police officer, said she wanted to seek political asylum. She said she did not want to go back.

Now, her fear of going back comes after she spoke out against national sporting authorities complaining on Instagram that she had been entered into the 4 x 400 meter relay without her consent. This is what she said to a Belarus news website. She said, quote, I'm afraid that I might be jailed in Belarus. I'm not afraid of being fired or kicked out of the national team, I'm concerned about my safety. And I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus. I didn't do anything but they deprived me of the right to participate in the 200- meter race and wanted to send me home.

Now, Brianna, Belarusian athletes who have criticized the government have been detained, have faced reprisal, have been excluded from national teams. President Alexander Lukashenko following these mass protests, he has initiated a brutal crackdown. Some athletes participated in those protests and several have been jailed.

And, Brianna, Lukashenko himself had been in charge of the Belarus National Olympic Committee for decades before his son's Viktor took over. The IOC does not recognize his son, Viktor.

Brianna. KEILAR: Yes, he is, obviously, very interested in sports in his country. He also has a history of certain tactics, right, that hijacking of a Ryan Air flight going into Belarus. So we'll see the lengths that he goes to.

Selina, I know this story is going to continue. Selina Wang, thanks for following it for us.

Republicans are still comparing masks and vaccine mandates to Hitler and the Nazis. The latest example in a CNN "Reality Check," next.

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[08:47:47]

KEILAR: "Axios" is reporting this morning that former President Barack Obama will host a 60th birthday party for himself and hundreds of guests on Martha's Vineyard this weekend. With the delta variant raging, those plans are raising some public health concerns.

Let's -- we'll go to Margaret Talev in just a moment to talk about this story.

The White House did release a statement about this saying that President Biden is not going to be in attendance.

John.

BERMAN: More on that shortly.

So, it's not just Marjorie Taylor Greene with wildly offensive, deeply ahistoric (ph) comments, comparing the effort to save lives in the pandemic to the Nazi efforts to exterminate Jews in the Holocaust. Now there's an entire state-wide Republican Party plan.

John Avlon with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Back in April, Canada just had 3 percent of its population fully vaccinated as the U.S. faltered towards combatting COVID. There are no domestic manufacturers of the vaccine up north and cities like Montreal and Toronto were in lockdown.

Well, fast forward to this summer and 59 percent of the Canadian population is fully vaccinated with 71 percent having received one dose. Meanwhile, in the U.S., cases and hospitalizations are spiking and we're stalled at under 50 percent fully vaccinated.

Which begs the question, why? The answer is that our country's stuck and suffering right now because of the unvaccinated and a stubbornly high percent have refused the vaccine because of hyper partisan lies.

Here's a steaming, fresh example of that brand of BS. The Oklahoma State Republican Party pushing out a tweet comparing common sense restrictions for the unvaccinated to the yellow star that Hitler's Nazi Germany forced Jewish citizens to wear. Yes, the same one that identified some of the 6 million people murdered during a Holocaust.

Now, of course, this is part of a sickening pattern of Nazi comparisons trotted out by some folks on the far right. Not just random wackos, but people who represent the Republican Party in positions of power and influence.

And the Oklahoma GOP is fundraising off this vile. It's ghoulish. They're trying to profit from polarization on the back of people's pain and suffering, because in Oklahoma City, ICUs are near capacity as COVID hospitalizations have more than doubled over the past two weeks.

[08:50:05]

And so Elizabeth Sader (ph), who's previously healthy 27-year-old husband is in a medically induced coma. He refused to get the vaccine. And now Elizabeth is begging people to get vaccinated.

Or just look at Florida, where just a few weeks ago Governor Ron DeSantis' PAC was selling swag (ph) that said, don't Fauci my Florida. Well, now Florida has broken its record for new daily cases and hospitalizations, higher than before vaccines were available. Patients in the ICU there are begging for vaccines. In fact, Florida's got nearly 25 times the number of people hospitalized for COVID than in all of Canada. So when Florida Representative Matt Gaetz tells supporters this weekend that I got the Florida variant, I've got the freedom variant, it affects the brain, it's more of a self-own (ph) than he intended. And he's mocking his constituents who are suffering from this very real disease.

Instead, they should listen to Trump-era COVID testing czar Admiral Brett Giroir.

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ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, FORMER TRUMP COVID TESTING CZAR: If you are not vaccinated and if you have not had COVID before, you're going to get the delta variant. On average, one person will transmit this to nine people, unlike the original virus, which got transmitted to two or three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: But for every Republican politician who's trying to encourage their supporters to get the vaccine now, there are still many who are still spreading deadly misinformation.

And leadership matters. Get this, every Democratic member of Congress has gotten vaccinated but 97 Republicans, including Gaetz, refuse to share their vaccine status when asked by CNN, while GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy suggests that about 80 House Republicans still aren't vaccinated.

It's never been clear that hyper partisanship is so self-deluding, so self-defeating and so deadly.

And that's your "Reality Check."

BERMAN: Well said. John Avlon, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Now we have CNN political analyst Margaret Talev back with us now.

Margaret, we're tracking this party, this upcoming 60th birthday party that is scheduled for firmer President Barack Obama on Martha's Vineyard. Tell us what have you learned about this, as you see the delta variant starting to rage?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna, this party is the talk of the town on Martha's Vineyard. And it should be said, even if there wasn't a pandemic and even if there wasn't a delta variant, the Obamas' parties on Martha's Vineyard for the years he was president were also always the talk of the town.

But this has this added level of intrigue because, of course, they're expecting, we understand from others on the island, somewhere close to 500 guests. This is going to be a massive blowout. Pearl Jam's been scheduled to play. These are friends of the Obamas. Guests like Steven Spielberg. And so you have, you know, the potential for some of the most recognizable faces in American pop culture and in the Obama social circle to all be gathered.

What we understand about this bash, which has been months in the works, is that it will be outdoors, that guests are being asked all to be vaccinated before they come, and will be tested and must show that they have been tested and that there will be an on-site coordinator.

But even so it's raising a lot of discussion about whether it's appropriate to have gatherings of 500 people. And I think, you know, the average American, who's having a family reunion or their own 50th or 60th, in this case, birthday party probably can't get a COVID coordinator on site or force, you know, all their aunts and uncles to be vaccinated first. So this is kind of the moment that we're at and that's part of why this is attracting so much discussion.

KEILAR: Yes, it's an outdoor event but that is a lot of people. Hundreds of people there.

What about, here in Washington, the mayor, Muriel Bowser, just put in place a mask mandate. It started early on Saturday morning. And now she's responding to criticism because she was photographed on Saturday evening without a mask.

Now, to be clear, this was an outdoor wedding. The actual -- nuptials part of it was outside. But as you can see in this photo, the reception was indoors. She was at least not wearing a mask in this part of it.

What do you know about this?

TALEV: Yes, that's right.

Look, I think that particularly public officials who are in Democratic politics, but all public officials in America right now are going to be seen as examples and they are going to be targets by critics who, you know, want to try to show a false equivalency.

The reality is, in events where everybody has been -- where people have been vaccinated and where distancing is observed and -- these events are, you know, less dangerous in terms of spread. But you have to be beyond reproach when you are a public official in a public gathering.

There may be a lot of efforts at false equivalency or disinformation.

[08:55:01]

But, nonetheless, in this case, I think if you are going to be a public official at any event, you have to err on the side of caution wear -- and wear a mask. You will be seen as an example both for your critics, for your supporters, from people who take their cues from you. And, you know, the way you conduct yourself and the scientific guidance you follow has to be beyond reproach.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean it might be rich for her to be held to the COVID standards of her Republican critics because there often aren't any. But, in this case, it -- how is she when it comes to her own standards? And I should just mention really quick that the mayor's office said she had her mask off when she would have been eating or drinking. But nonetheless.

Margaret, thank you so much. Great to see you this morning.

TALEV: You too. Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still ahead, a public health battle pitting Republican governors against local leaders when it comes to masks in schools.

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[09:00:07]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.