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Kentucky Death Toll May Top 80; Kristy Moore is Interviewed about Democrats; Pfizer has Final Data for Covid Pill; Dr. Chris T. Pernell is Interviewed about Covid Pill; Rams Knock Cardinals Out of Top Spot. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 14, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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


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[06:32:44]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: As of this morning, at least 74 people are confirmed dead in Kentucky alone, 14 in other states, from the string of tornadoes that brought devastation and loss across the Midwest and south this weekend. One hundred and nine people are unaccounted for.

CNN's Brian Todd is on the scene live this morning for us in Mayfield, Kentucky.

Brian, why don't you bring us up to speed on the very latest.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, John, you mentioned those 109 people unaccounted for in all of these states. This search and rescue operation throughout these areas is still very dynamic, dangerous, and very complicated, including here in Mayfield, where people are picking through scenes like this. Rescuers picking through scenes like this, trying to get to anybody who might be trapped inside the rubble.

We did receive some positive news last night though. At the candle factory that collapsed outside of Mayfield, the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory, where eight people lost their lives, there had been a report from officials there that eight people remained missing. But we did get an update on CNN last night from Tom Neal, who's one of the commanders of the Indiana Task Force One, who spoke to CNN, gave an update on the missing and the unaccounted for in that factory. Take a listen.

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DIVISION CHIEF TOM NEAL, INDIANAPOLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT: And at this time we're pretty confident with our searches of the building, both through live canine and human remains detection canines, as well as detection equipment, and the owners' efforts in looking at the unaccounted for members of his company, we are confident that there is no other people that remain in this structure.

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TODD: So, good news there from Tom Neal, with the Indiana Task Force One. That really means this morning that just about everybody there has been accounted for. That means that it looks like more than 100 people who were in that factory made it out alive. Eight people confirmed dead but more than 100 in that factory, it looks like they made it out alive. Nobody remaining missing.

But, again, the operations are very complicated. They told us yesterday at that factory that one of the things that was complicating the search and rescue there, very unique to that site, the smell of candles, the chemicals that give off those scents of candles, well, those smells were drifting all over that area and that really threw the dog teams off.

[06:35:01]

The dogs couldn't really find the scent of people in that area. So, these are complications that they're running into all over the place. And they're warning people, guys, that, you know, even when you come back to your home or your business, in a place like this, this was a floral design shop here in Mayfield. Even people coming back and trying to sift through their businesses and homes, this is a complicated and dangerous process.

You can see here, there's just shards of metal and glass and brick all over the place. It's very uneven footing. It's dangerous because you've got objects like bricks and sharp pieces of wood and nails and glass all over the place. They're warning people, you've got to be careful when you go back to your home.

This morning, even three days after this series of tornadoes hit, this is still a very dynamic and dangerous situation. So, they are keeping a look out for people. Again, the police and other responders are patrolling around the area. They're kind of checking on people who are going through their homes and making sure they're OK because it is very dangerous to do that.

Also an issue here is shelter. They're trying to get people into shelters who remain homeless. But getting transportation to those shelters is an issue because we talked to a community organizer who said that getting people to those shelters, they don't have a place where they can come and gather and they don't have a way to get word out as to how to get people on buses and cars to those shelters.

So, again, a very complicated process in the recovery and sheltering efforts this morning, John.

BERMAN: No, nothing is easy there. You have to be very careful, obviously, as you said, with what you breathe, where you step. So many people lost their cell phones. It is very difficult communicating there.

Brian Todd, I really appreciate the reporting. Thank you so much.

TODD: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: So, Democrats, wake up, stop the big lie. That message from folks at the grassroots level who are sending a warning to members of their own party. KAITLAN COLLINS: And the survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse have

reached a huge settlement with USA Gymnastics. One of them is going to join us live.

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[06:41:13]

COLLINS: It's been more than a year since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, but his false claims that he won have galvanized an entire movement. If you look closely across the country, there is a new class of political activists who are seeking office, overseeing elections, many of them operating on the belief that Trump was robbed and looking ahead to future elections.

One Democrat who lost a local school board race to a stop the steal movement candidate in rural Pennsylvania is asking her party to wake up. Kristy Moore is a public school teacher and a district leader for the Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Democratic Committee. She joins me here now.

Elizabeth, thank you so much for -- or, thank you so much for being with us this morning, Kristy. Sorry, Elizabethtown got me.

These roles that we're talking about here used to be considered the quieter corners of the election system, but they are still very critical positions and now you have people who think the 2020 election was stolen, in a position where they're the judge of these elections.

And so do you see this as kind of a Democratic emergency kind of just hiding in plain sight?

KIRSTY MOORE, DISTRICT LEADER, ELIZABETHTOWN DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: I really do. And we have some amazing committee people here in Elizabethtown, and also at the county level. We are very dedicated. We have to be. If you are Democrats living in rural red Pennsylvania, you have to be dedicated because we -- we come back election after election fighting really hard to lose many times. And if we don't kind of step up now, it's only going to get more difficult for us.

COLLINS: And from your own experience, do you think Democrats on the national level are concerned enough about this?

MOORE: I didn't feel it in our school board race. I think in speaking with other school board candidates in other parts of the state, it seemed to us that the -- the -- our opponents really were controlling the messaging. A lot of what our opponents talked about had to do with critical race theory, the integrity of girls' sports, and the Democrats didn't really have anything to help us go back against that. We kind of lacked this united message about trusting science, about, you know, fighting for our vulnerable students, about defending our curriculum and attacks on our curriculum. The -- our opponents really seemed to control the narrative there.

And a lot of it wasn't real. CRT is not taught in public schools. But I know the first voter I spoke with on Election Day, that's all that he wanted to talk about. So it was just really evident that they had the control of that messaging that the Democratic side seemed to lack.

COLLINS: Well, and then, of course, the opponents here are people who actually think that the election was stolen, which, of course, we know it was not. There is no evidence of any kind of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. But now they are getting these critical roles. So what does that entail for elections to come in 2022, in 2024, do you think?

MOORE: So, I think what it means for us is, this is not the time to sit on the sidelines. You can't sit back and watch this happen. We have to organize. And we have to organize, like, every day. We -- we need to get involved. We need to run for offices. We need to find the people who are running for office and support them, knock on doors, donate to their campaigns, talk to your friends.

[06:45:04]

If we -- if we allow ourselves to sit on the sidelines, there are some really dangerous things ahead for our democracy.

COLLINS: Kristy Moore, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

MOORE: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

COLLINS: Just in, we also have some breaking news on the pandemic, including the results of the Pfizer Covid pill and a South African study on the new omicron variant.

BERMAN: Plus, what's behind the growing Covid outbreaks in the NFL and NBA. Why games are now at risk.

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COLLINS: This just in to CNN, Pfizer says it now has the final data for its Covid-19 pill. Company officials say it can cut the chances of hospitalization or death by almost 90 percent if patients take it within a few days of their first symptoms.

[06:50:05]

The company is trying to get Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA now for this pill, and CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with me now.

So, Elizabeth, what is this final data showing us?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kaitlan, this final data is quite dramatic. But before I talk about it, I want to say one thing, which is that this pill is an anti-viral pill. It is not a replacement for a vaccine. You don't want to get Covid, period, end of sentence. But if you do get Covid, you want to have a drug that can be used to treat it.

And so Merck has an anti-viral that they are working with the FDA on, and Pfizer now has this data and has applied for Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA. So let's take a look at Pfizer data on their anti-viral, which is

called Paxlovid. What they found is an 89 percent lower risk of hospitalization or death when people took it within just a few days.

Now, what you'll also see is a tenfold decrease in viral load at day five. That last part is very important, not just for the patient but for others around them. If you've got less virus in your nose, which is what viral load means, you are less likely to spread it to other people.

Now, let's sort of take this clinical trial apart a bit. They gave half of the folks a placebo, a pill that does nothing, and then they gave half the folks Paxlovid, the anti-viral. What they found is that those that actually got Paxlovid, five of them are hospitalized over the course of several weeks. No one died. For those who received the placebo, 44 were hospitalized and nine died. That is very dramatic, especially that death number. That is very dramatic. And it's interesting, both Pfizer and Merck say that their anti-virals won't really be affected by omicron because they don't work in the same way as the vaccine does. So hopefully they're right about that.

Kaitlan.

COLLINS: And I think what's so critical about this is it says within three days of symptoms. So that means what goes hand in hand with the success of a pill like this one is more testing happening, which, of course, we know has been pretty deficient in the United States.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for updating us on all of that.

COHEN: Thanks.

BERMAN: Want to bring in Dr. Chris Pernell, she's a public health physician and fellow at the American College of Preventative Medicine.

Dr. Pernell, thanks so much for being with us.

Look, as Elizabeth said, get vaccinated. Vaccines can prevent you from getting infected. But if you do get coronavirus, if you get Covid, this has been the missing link.

How would something like this, if it's as effective as the Pfizer data shows that it is, change, perhaps, the course of this pandemic?

DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: Morning, John.

I think this could be a game-changer. First and foremost, I want to emphasize, in beating this pandemic, we need multi-layered strategies. The vaccine is the more powerful tool because it prevents Covid. But if we have a pill like Paxlovid, and we can easily administer this, we have easy access and we have people taking this pill within a few days of symptoms, and cutting hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent, that is dramatic.

I would be interested to know, how do those persons fair? If they have Covid, do they experience long Covid? Yes, there will be lower viral load, so less likely to spread. So we still need a peer-reviewed study, but this is very encouraging information.

COLLINS: And, Dr. Pernell, we're also seeing this major South African study today on omicron. Of course, people have had a lot of questions about that and what it really means. Of course we're seeing hospitalization, if you have omicron, 29 percent lower than the original strain of Covid-19.

What are you seeing that stands out to you in this study today?

PERNELL: I think what's important for people to realize is who is getting exposed and infected with omicron? Are these people who are fully vaccinated or partially vaccinated? Are these people who had prior immunity because of a natural Covid infection? That is going to lead to milder symptoms and lower hospitalization rates.

Look, that's good news if that holds true for those who are unvaccinated and no history of an infection. But the more important point for everyone to understand that it's still delta that's snuffing out lives with more than 1,000 deaths daily and more than 100,000 cases. That's where we've got to put the brunt of the focus and how to get unvaccinated folks vaccinated and how to get those who are vaccinated, boosted.

BERMAN: Dr. Pernell, as always, thank you so much for being with us.

PERNELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, the NFL just saw the highest number of positive Covid tests since the pandemic began. What's behind this and how will it affect the league.

COLLINS: Plus, we have got more on those stunning text messages that reveal the conversations Mark Meadows was having during the insurrection at the Capitol, while several Fox News hosts have since changed their tone.

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COLLINS: The Rams knocked the Cardinals out of the top spot of the NFC playoff race. Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

COLLINS: Andy, the Rams have been scrambling to make some roster moves in the hours before this game.

SCHOLES: Yes, they did because of Covid and the protocols. You know, NFL teams test their vaccinated players and staff once a week, Kaitlan. Most do it on Mondays. And yesterday there were 37 positive Covid-19 test results across the league. It was the highest number among players since the pandemic began.

And Rams quarterback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Tyler Higbee, they were added to the Covid list just hours before the game, not able to play against the Cardinals.

And this was a good one, picking up in the third quarter, tied at 13. Matthew Stafford, a little play action, hits Van Jefferson for a 52- yard touchdown. Stafford had three touchdown passes in the game.

Now, Van's dad, Shawn, receivers coach for Arizona, externally he wasn't very happy at all that his son caught that touchdown.

Now, the Cardinals, they were trying to tie this game in the final seconds after getting an on-side kick, but their offense was a little confused. Kyler Murray sacked by Aaron Donald to end the game. Rams win that one, 30-23.

The NBA, meanwhile, has postponed the Chicago Bull's next two games amid a Covid-19 outbreak within the organization. Ten players, and additional staff members, are now in the league's health and safety protocols. This is the first time the NBA has postponed games this season.

Now, on the court, we're likely going to see some history tonight. Steph Curry hit five threes last night in a win over the Pacers. That means he needs two more tonight at Madison Square Garden to break Ray Allen's all-time record. Allen expected to be in attendance. As will Reggie Miller. He's on the call for TNT. He's third on that all-time list. So you can hopefully watch Curry make some history tonight, Kaitlan, on TNT against the Knicks. Warriors-Knicks. A lot of people want to go to that game, and rightfully so. To get in at Madison Square Garden tonight, more than $500.

COLLINS: That's pretty amazing. I'll be watching it from my hotel room.

Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

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COLLINS: And NEW DAY continues right now.