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U.S. Government Announces New Rules for International Air Travel; Exploring Why Leaves Change in the Fall; Female Flyer Aims for New Record
Aired September 23, 2021 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: The United States government has announced new rules when it comes to international airline travel and that`s where we
start today`s show. Hello everyone, I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for watching this Thursday. Early last year as the first wave of the COVID pandemic was
spreading around the world, the Trump Administration banned people from China from traveling to the U.S. China was where the disease originated.
Since then, the ban has expanded to include other hard hit countries including Brazil, India, Iran, South Africa and many parts of Europe.
People from these places cannot visit America for tourism or recreation, and these restrictions are currently in place under the Biden
Administration. People outside these countries are allowed to fly to America if they have a negative COVID test, or proof that they recently
recovered from corona virus. As part of its increasing emphasis on vaccines though, the Biden Administration recently announced new rules that
will take place in the months ahead.
People from other countries who can prove they`ve been fully vaccinated, and have a negative COVID test within three days of their flight can now
fly to the U.S. as tourists, and that`s even if they come from one of the countries that`s currently banned. They`ll have to give more personal
information to the U.S. government though like phone numbers or email addresses, in case there`s another corona virus outbreak and officials want
to trace exactly where it came from.
What about unvaccinated Americans? Can they still fly to and from other countries? Yes, for the time being, but the Biden Administration says
they`ll face stricter testing requirements like producing a negative COVID test within one day of their flight somewhere else, and one day of their
flight back though it`s not clear how the government would enforce that.
Supporters of the new rules hope they`ll bring more tourism dollars into the U.S. economy, and the White House says its new vaccination requirement
quote, "deploys the best tool we have in our arsenal" to prevent the spread of the virus. But the Delta variant of COVID, which became America`s
dominant strain this summer, can be caught and spread by people who are fully vaccinated, and it began infecting Americans while stricter travel
bans were still in place.
So, critics are concerned the new rules won`t slow down the spread of COVID. The new air travel rules are set to take effect in early November.
The U.S. government hasn`t set a specific date yet.
10 Second Trivia. What happens during an equinox? Sun passes behind moon, Winter or summer begins, Sun passes over equator, or Daylight-saving time
ends. When the sun is directly over the equator, an equinox occurs, and day and night are the same length.
Well, I`m wearing a jacket today, so it must be Fall. Yesterday was officially the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the vernal
or Spring equinox in the southern one. It`s the second equinox of the year. The term comes from the Latin word, equinoxium, which might sound
like a sports drink. It means equality between day and night when they`re almost the same length.
That`s what people saw yesterday all around the world. There`s not much that`s noticeably different for those who live near the equator. The
length of their days and nights doesn`t change too much throughout the year, but people who live farther north or south from the equator will see
significant changes in daylight during the months ahead.
Alaska and Canada, northern Russia, Sweden, these areas will see a long dark winter without much sunshine. It`s the opposite for them in the
summer when the phrase, land of the midnight sun starts to make sense. But if our friends in the far north aren`t looking forward to losing sunlight,
they can look forward to the geomagnetic storms known as the Northern lights.
These are usually more active around the time of the equinoxes, according to a solar physicist interviewed by CNN, so consolation prize. An
estimated 90 percent of all the people on the Earth live in the northern hemisphere, for many there`s a change of scenery that comes with the change
of seasons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The term "leaf peeping", you often hear it from say September through November and it`s that informal term
given to people who travel vast distances to get a glimpse of the Fall colors. Certainly, you can feel the cool temperatures outside, you can see
the splash of colors beginning to take place but why does this all happen?
I want you to think about leaves on a tree, as essentially mini solar panels, what they`re able to do is fascinating. Taking the sunlight in,
and through a process known as photosynthesis they`re able to transfer the sun`s energy and create a chemical known as chlorophyll. Now chlorophyll
is key, because it gives the leaves its green colors during the long summer months.
But beneath the surface, the leaves actually always have the reds, the oranges, the yellows in place. While chlorophyll is there, it`s there and
it`s green, while if taken away in the shorter days and shorter months of autumn, now you`re releasing some of the true colors back to the surface.
Of course, weather can play a role in this as well, especially on the vibrancy of it.
When you have plenty of rainfall in the growing season, or in the spring season, you`re able to get plenty of good colors in early September,
October, and November. But if you have extreme heat, extreme drought in place, maybe a freeze or a snowstorm or a strong wind, certainly that can
do damage, a reason for you not being able to see them in peak foliage. But hopefully you get a chance to get out there this year and enjoy the
Fall colors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Unless you`re really up on your World War II history, you may not be familiar with General Henry "Hap" Arnold. He was commander of the U.S.
Army Air Forces during that time. He was taught to fly by the Wright Brothers, yes, those Wright Brothers, and as far as his thoughts on women
in aviation went. General Arnold expressed doubts about that at first, but later said quote, "now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as
well as men".
So how does that relate to something taking place 77 years later? Well, it starts with a young flyer named Zara Rutherford. She`s trying to set a new
aviation world record that would make her the youngest woman ever to fly solo around the world. CNN`s Kim Brunhuber explores more reasons why
Rutherford is taking flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Zara Rutherford may be young, but she`s ready to soar off on an almost 30,000 nautical miles solo
flight circling the globe. If she succeeds, this Belgium-British national will become the youngest woman ever to fly solo around the world, and the
youngest person ever to do it in a micro light airplane.
ZARA RUTHERFORD, FEMALE PILOT: So, growing up, I didn`t really see many female pilots or female computer scientists. Those are two of my passions
and its quite discouraging when (inaudible) relates to (inaudible) the (inaudible) other girls see me and think, I`d love to fly one day.
BRUNHUBER: Rutherford will be flying a customized Shark Ultralight, which is one of the sponsors of her flight. The route will begin in Brussels,
taking her across the Atlantic, over Greenland and the Americas. Traveling as far south as Colombia and Venezuela, she`ll then turn north toward the
Bering Strait, where she`ll cross into Russia and fly over south and southeast Asia, the across Africa and the Middle East before returning
home. She says the journey should take two or three months. Her mission, to close the gender gap in aviation.
RUTHERFORD: There is a difference in aviation between men and women. There`s a lot less women in aviation about commercial pilots, five percent
are women, which is, I mean, ridiculous -- ridiculously small.
BRUNHUBER: Rutherford takes after her parents, both of whom are pilots. Her mother, Beatrice De Smet, says she`s nervous but proud.
BEATRICE DE SMET, MOTHER OF ZARA RUTHERFORD: When she first told me about it, my heart skipped a beat. It took me a bit of time to digest and now
I`m so proud and fully, fully behind her. But as I said, mixed feelings.
BRUNHUBER: Rutherford hopes this trip can inspire other girls to follow her path both in life and in the air. Kim Brunhuber, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Usually, when you show you superlatives for the longest or highest bridge in the world, there`s some spectacular scenery involved. This one`s
over a highway, 14 lanes of traffic in Ontario, Canada plus several train tracks and a smaller road.
It`s not brand new. This pedestrian bridge was completed in 2018, but since it stretches 820 feet long, officials said they didn`t know of
another one that long anywhere else in the world. So, they applied for a Guinness World Record and they just got it. The Pickering Pedestrian
Bridge is now officially the longest enclosed pedestrian bridge on the planet.
It might now be over "troubled water", but it does look strong enough to "truss". Its builders have got to be "beaming" with pride, for putting a
new record on "deck" and then "spanning" the world to win recognition for their "superstructure". Well, that`s the "abridged" version anyway.
Batavia High School gets today`s shout out. Big hello to our viewers in Batavia, New York who subscribed and left a comment at YouTube.com/CNN10.
I`m Carl Azuz.
END
