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NEW DAY SATURDAY

U.S. Reported 195,542 Cases For Highest One-Day Total; Donald Trump Jr. tests positive for COVID-19; Hospital Leaders Warn The American Hospital Association They Are Experiencing Staffing Shortages; Pfizer And BioNTech Apply For FDA Emergency Use Authorization For COVID-19 Vaccine. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired November 21, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so angry. So many people in this country have died as a consequence of this administration's, his father's inattention to this pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A record number of people in the hospital, more than 80,000 for the first time since early May, more than 2000 lives reported lost to COVID-19 in a single day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump trying to overturn the election, meeting for an hour with Republican lawmakers from Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the President is doing is completely unprecedented to try and disenfranchise voters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I would just wish he would accept the loss, move on and start bringing us together instead of trying to create more divide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Live look now at Lady Liberty in New York, 8:00 in New York City. It is Saturday, November 21. It's good to be to be with us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Good morning everyone. I'm Amara Walker in today for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: This is a crucial point in the coronavirus fight. Yes, we are a big step closer toward a coronavirus vaccine but also consistently breaking records for daily hospitalizations and new cases. Just yesterday the U.S. added more than 195,000 new cases. That's a record for one day and that's the second straight day of a record.

And less than a week after we crossed to 11 million cases, the U.S. is close to now 12 million confirmed cases the most anywhere in the world. WALKER: But here is some positive news Pfizer and BioNTech have

applied for emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine. In the meantime, we are seeing long lines for COVID tests ahead of Thanksgiving. The CDC is pleading with people to celebrate safely and is recommending not to travel.

CNN Polo Sandoval joining us live from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and we've been saying this all morning that it sucks that we have to make these choices on whether or not we should go, see family that we dearly miss. What are you seeing there at the airport?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you know, we're still a few days out Amara, from what is traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year but it certainly should come as no surprise that this year's expected to see at least less traffic, a couple reasons. For example AAA says that because of the pandemic, more Americans who do decide to travel will likely decide to drive to their destination.

But then also there's that guidance that was issued by the Centers for Disease Control Prevention just this week that you mentioned a little while ago saying that the numbers are so high, recommending Americans simply skip some of the Thanksgiving travel this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: It's a broader and some fear longer lasting wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths and you can see it in the latest COVID trend map showing a virtual see of orange and red, 10 months after the first U.S. COVID-19 case was confirmed. With just over 13000 new infections the state of California shattered its own record, Friday. Then there's the reality of the fights on the front lines to save patients from the viruses suffocating grip. It's a struggle compounded by staff shortages in some of the nation's rural medical facilities.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, CO-DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: We're see these surges on intensive care units and that's when the mortality rate, the death rate goes like this to this vertical because nurses, other staff get, doctors get overwhelmed and it's not just a matter of the beds, it's having trained staff to take care of them.

SANDOVAL: On Friday, the American Hospital Association flagged reports from care facilities in at least six states where fears are growing about the physical and emotional toll on medical personnel.

LACIE GOOCH, NEBRASKA NURSE: I have seen so many emergent intubations. I've seen people more sick than I've ever seen in my life.

SANDOVAL: There is however hope that front line medical workers could soon be better protected against a virus. On Friday, Pfizer and BioNTech were the first to apply for FDA emergency approval of their coronavirus vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we had most hoped for but it's not just around the corner. A vaccine rollout is going to take a long time. It's not a vaccine that saves lives, it's a vaccination program.

SANDOVAL: Until that happens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues urging Americans to avoid travel and to keep the Thanksgiving celebration small.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: I'm making the personal sacrifices not to infect my parents and my pregnant daughter and there's a lot of people out there who know how to protect one another and we just need to make sure, we're all doing that.

SANDOVAL: Including by continuing to wear a mask. The CDC out with another reason to do so. The researchers took a look at the state of Kansas and it's July 2 mask mandate. A majority of the state's counties, some two-thirds opted out of the governor's mask order. They later recorded about a 100 percent increase in COVID-19 cases. Compare that surge to a 6 percent decrease in the counties that did require masks in public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And perhaps it could be one of the reasons why yet another roughly 195,000 people tested positive for the virus just yesterday alone Amara and Victor and just to add some perspective here, the highest we got was only about 77,000 back during the summer spike that was experienced in parts of the country and I say it only because that certainly pales compared to what we're seeing now and possibly, what we might see in the weeks to come.

[08:05:00]

BLACKWELL: The numbers are just stunning. Polo Sandoval for us in New York, thanks so much.

WALKER: All right, turning to Illinois now and the governor there says coronavirus is now the third leading cause of death just behind heart disease and cancer.

BLACKWELL: There are more than 630,000 confirmed cases across the state. Deaths are getting close to 12,000 there and yesterday, the state rolled out tighter restrictions in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. With us now, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Health. Doctor, good morning to you.

DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: So these are the Tier 3 restrictions that started yesterday, let's start with what changes across Illinois and how much progress needs to be seen across the state to get out of this, this phase of restrictions?

EZIKE: Yes, so we have restrictions already. We call this our Tier 3 and again, it's just - they're just words on a paper unless people actually implement them but the whole thinking was just we need to have everybody take a group pause, a group timeout and so we further limited capacities in stores, we already had to suspended indoor dining.

So that continues, even gyms, just suspending capacity, stopping the group fitness classes that are indoor. Again, anything that's indoors you know we're really trying to get a handle on and control.

WALKER: Let me ask you a little bit about vaccine distribution of the six state level, doctor because we know that Pfizer and BioNTech have submitted to the U.S. FDA for emergency use authorization. How at the state level, many vaccines do you believe that you guys may be able have - maybe have access to and how will they be distributed?

EZIKE: Yes so that's a great question because so much is in flux, you know things are changing day by day but we get regular briefings so far what we think is that we might get up to you know 400,000 doses and so again, that number is absolutely subject to change and so all our firm calculations are hard but we know for the ultracold storage, we've identified the areas where we have ultracold storage.

We've gotten 20 additional units that we can positions all around the state to make sure that there won't be a part of the state that won't have access to the appropriate storage container with which to dispense this valuable resource.

Again, starting in that first phase, Phase 1A with our - with our health care workers and first responders.

BLACKWELL: So Governor Pritzker said that if transmission rates and hospitalizations, if the numbers continue to go into the wrong direction, that there could be a statewide lockdown. What's the threshold and how close is Illinois to that?

EZIKE: Yes, so again, this is supposed to be the stop gap so that we don't get there but if we continue to see the trend rise with rising positivity across the state, if we continue to see capacity in our hospitals being diminished, if we continue to see the healthcare work force themselves, falling ill or being under quarantine such that we don't have enough manpower or womanpower in the hospital, all of these will get us to a full stay-at-home order, which of course no one wants to see.

WALKER: Yes, I mean the vaccine is not here yet you know and we've got a hold on and we've got to take those necessary precautions and follow the state and county roles as they come but you know Dr. Ezike, that there's a significant portion of the American population that just doesn't trust vaccines.

In fact, polls show that many Americans have serious concerns about taking a potential vaccine. What evidence can scientists and medical experts like yourself show the American people to alleviate these fears that look, this vaccine is safe and effective and there's a lot of safety data out there?

EZIKE: Yes, so that is like almost a paradigm shift that we have to make in this country. We are clearly like innovators when it comes to drugs and high tech solutions and we don't spend nearly as much money, energy or time educating around prevention just as a whole and we need to understand how much we can get from vaccines, just the thought that we don't see people with polio every day and we don't see people with smallpox or measles on the regular when people get vaccinated. There's a whole body of science that has told us that vaccines are effective and they are safe.

[08:10:00]

And we've got to increase our ground game to make sure that we have credible messengers in the communities, especially communities that might be most hesitant to get that word out about the risks and the benefits and how much benefit there is to get this new COVID vaccine and don't forget, we already have the flu vaccine which can also help decrease hospitalizations this winter.

BLACKWELL: Polo Sandoval just talked about the people who will be traveling either driving or flying and we know we're coming up a few days from Thanksgiving. The city of Chicago has a travel order that they implemented. Visitors from 11 states with the highest transmissions have to quarantine for 14 days.

Optional for visitors from 36 other states. Is there an expectation that the state is close to or would consider a travel order or adviser as well?

EZIKE: Well, we've been very clear. The governor has been just on his message daily that people just need to state put, that we need to not travel especially as you mentioned the Thanksgiving. If we love Grandma, there is no better way to say that than to stay put and give her our best love and attention virtually.

We have to say no to super spreader events by moving around and gathering in groups and say yes to masks and vaccinations and pausing on the gatherings.

BLACKWELL: And pausing on the gatherings, I know I was given the rant but I had this ready in case this came up and I want to hear. This is Lori Lightfoot, Mayor of Chicago after Joe Biden was announced as the winner declared the projection from the networks, she was out celebrating with crowds and here's what she told local news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: Yes, there are times when we actually do need to have relief and come together and I felt like that was one of those times. That crowd was gathered whether I was there or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So not local news, MSNBC but it seems to complicate the message that you know, there's a time that we need to get out and be together. Many would say that sounds just like Thanksgiving. Is this complicating the issue because I know Governor Pritzker was out with crowds too?

EZIKE: Again, I just know that if we really want to show Grandma how much we love her then one of the things we can do is help her to be here for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Christmas and really being able to pause that gathering so that we don't risk infecting her is the best way that we can show her love and how much we're thankful for her this special, unprecedented year.

WALKER: Well, we know you've been doing a lot to help the state through this pandemic so we appreciate your efforts and your time Dr. Ngozi Ezike, thank you so much for joining us.

BLACKWELL: All right, Donald Trump Jr., the President's son is isolating. He tested positive for COVID-19. CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us now so Trump Junior, second person in the President's circle to test positive this week.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, the spokesman for the president said his son tested positive. Earlier this week, he has shown no symptoms and he's isolating at his cabin. Of course he's just the latest person in the Presidents circle to test positive for coronavirus, it's a long list. It's included his Chief of Staff, his National Security Adviser, his Press Secretary, several senior advisers, his campaign manager, his eldest son, his youngest son, his wife and Trump himself.

And the new case at the White House this week was Andrew Giuliani. He's a midlevel aide and he's the son of Rudy Giuliani who's had kind of taking the lead on the President's efforts to overturn the election results as some more seasoned election lawyer sort of back away. Now the elder Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani is self-isolating.

He had originally planned to be at the White House for what on the surface was an extraordinary meeting that the President convened. He summoned Republican lawmakers from Michigan to the Oval Office as part of his attempt to overturn the election results to try and get Republicans - to convince Republicans not to certify the results of the election and perhaps even to switch some of the electors from Joe Biden to Donald Trump.

Now after the meeting, it became clear that the President didn't exactly get what he might have been bargaining for. I spoke to someone and they said that the Michigan Republicans explained to Trump the law in their state about certifying the election results and they came out afterwards and said, they had not seen anything yet that would change the results of the elections and that the winner with the most votes would get the electors.

Now the other thing that they came to the Oval Office bearing was this request for more federal assistance on coronavirus. That's something that the President has been largely absent on, invisible on for the last several weeks even if this pandemic worsens in the United States, that when we saw the President yesterday, it was the first time we saw him in a week he came out to tout some drug pricing roles that he was announcing but you could tell the election is still very much on his mind.

[08:15:00] He attacked the drugmaker Pfizer. He claimed that they were trying to

punish him politically for delaying the release of their vaccine results until after the election. Listen to what Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So they waited and waited and waited and they though they'd come out within a few days after the election and it would have probably had an impact, who knows? Maybe it wouldn't have. I'm sure they would have found the ballots someplace, the Democrats and the group. These corrupt games will not deter us from doing what is right for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now reality check there, Pfizer has said that they released the results of their vaccine trial when the data was ready, they did not delay until after the election to punish the president so that is just false.

WALKER: And Kevin, you used the apt term, invisible. The President has pretty much been in hiding since the election with the exception of yesterday. What about this weekend? Are we expecting to see the President at any public events?

LIPTAK: Well, we weren't late yesterday that the President will participate in the G20 summit. The White House had not said whether we would see him there. That's being convened virtually. The host is Saudi Arabia. The President has never made any secret that he doesn't think much of these big multilateral summits. In fact he was the host of - was supposed to be the host of the G7 this year but after many delays that summit seems like it's just not going to happen at all.

There isn't - not high expectations for the G20 this year, maybe some agreements on debt relief for smaller countries but by and large, the summit has looked beyond Trump. He's sort of at the low ebb of his influence on the foreign stage. Most every other G20 leader has congratulated Joe Biden for being President-elect, the one exception still Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

WALKER: Kevin Liptak, appreciate you. Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: President-elect Joe Biden will meet with his transition advisers today. Both he and vice President elect Kamala Harris met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer yesterday.

WALKER: CNN political reporter Rebecca Buck is in Washington DC with more details. Rebecca, what can we expect from today's meeting?

REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, president-elect Joe Biden will meet today with his transition advisers behind closed doors. No public events scheduled for this weekend but he and his team are continuing to put the pieces in place for his administration even as President Trump still refuses to concede this race to Joe Biden and his administration apparently doing everything it can to gum up the gears and make this transition process as difficult as possible for Joe Biden.

Of course we heard from House Democrats today to ask for - this week rather asking the General Services Administration, why they still have an ascertained Joe Biden as the winner of this election. Of course that process would enable Joe Biden and his transition team to access key government information data to help them make some of these decisions as their transition moves forward in advance of his administration.

But Emily Murphy, the official at GSA responsible for this decision has not taken the steps she needs to ascertain Joe Biden still is the winner of this race so we're watching that in the days and weeks ahead but in the meantime Biden is moving forward with his transition as much as possible.

This week as you mentioned yesterday, he met with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. They talked about of course, the big issues that are going to be facing his presidency in the early days, the coronavirus pandemic, this economic recovery. If Congress is unable to pass and the President is unable to approve a coronavirus stimulus in this lame duck session before Joe Biden takes over, that's going to be priority number one for his administration on day one and so that's one of the things that they're having to work through right now.

But of course one of the big questions facing Joe Biden and his transition is whether Republicans are going to have control of the Senate when he takes office. That's a big question mark as we have these two ongoing Georgia Senate runoff races with the power of the Senate hanging in the balance and this is going to affect not only his governing agenda but also his cabinet picks and those dominations.

Now we're expecting to hear more about that this week. Biden has said he has already picked his Treasury Secretary although that announcement has not been made. We have reporting to suggest that Lael Brainard is one of the front runners. We're also expecting a pick on Secretary of State so Biden putting these pieces in place, putting these together even as the administration trying to disrupt this process as much as possible.

Victor and Amara.

BLACKWELL: 60 days out from inauguration, Rebecca Buck in Washington, thank you. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated food and security in America. Thousands of people are turning to food banks. You see the lines here. This is the first time for so many and COVID relief programs are soon going to expire.

WALKER: Plus President-elect Biden's margin of victory is growing as President Trump's legal challenges continue to fizzle in court. What more could he still do to delay the inevitable. We'll discussed with an election law expert.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: President Trump and his legal team are still trying to

overturn the results of the election but the low and the numbers, they are standing in his way. President-elect Joe Biden's margin of victory over President Trump in the popular vote is now more than 6million votes and the President-elect also has a decisive Electoral College victory.

Yesterday Georgia's Republican governor certified Biden's win in the state. Biden won by 12,670 votes or point to 0.26 percent of the close to 5 million ballots that were cast in the state.

WALKER: Yes it's the latest reality check for the President and his allies who to-date have lost or withdrawn at least 28 cases, they have fought in court since Election day.

[08:25:00]

So what is the end game here? Let's discuss this with CNN election law analyst Franita Tolson. Good morning to you Franita. So obviously, the legal route is not panning out. It's been a failure really for President Trump so if the goal is to get some Republican electors in Michigan, Pennsylvania or elsewhere to somehow ignore the popular vote which is such a brazen move and then overturn the electoral college results, it's looking more and more like a long shot, isn't it?

FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Well, the last two weeks in fact have been a reality check for the president or at least should have been. So the repeated losses in court, the attempts to get state legislators in key states to change, to overturn a popular vote, all of this is a long shot so certification though becomes very important so the fact that Georgia certified yesterday and Michigan and Pennsylvania are certifying their election results on Monday, make it even more difficult for the President to win in the strategy.

Certification means that there's no failed election, that the election results are official and that the slate of electors will move forward and so any attempts to overturn that become even more far reaching than before.

WALKER: But just context here because the fact that you have a U.S. President who has lost an election and he's trying to get electors at the state level or I'm sorry legislators at the state level or canvassers at the county level on the phone to go against the will of the people. Just talk to us about how brazen and unprecedented this is.

TOLSON: Yes, I don't think we've ever seen anything like this and let's not understate how corrosive to our democracy it is for the President not to accept the election results and we got a hint that something like this might happen, in fact when he refused to concede. While concessions don't have any legal impact, they are important for the peaceful transfer of power and all of his efforts to overturn the election results suggest that he also doesn't respect the norm where we peacefully transfer power one administration to another.

And so it's very concerning but you do - you do have to wonder that you know maybe part of this is a failure of civic education in this country, right? There are so many people who don't understand how the system works and so the President is able to convince his supporters that you know he has a fighting chance here when in fact he doesn't because they just don't hold.

WALKER: Well but you know as I was mentioning, President Trump and his allies have tried to intervene at the county level as well in Wayne County, Michigan and I bring that up because this is the county that has a large black population. We know that two Republican officials there are trying to rescind their certification of the results which they can't do anymore.

They were going back and forth and during that unhinged news conference by Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, he said this about Wayne County.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP'S PERSONAL LAWYER: So you see a change as a result of the election in Michigan, if you take out Wayne County. One of the reasons why the two Republicans did not certify in Wayne, Michigan - Wayne county Michigan is because the over vote was so high.

What I'm describing here is a massive fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: No, there wasn't. There's no evidence of massive fraud and there's no evidence of the over vote which means that there were more ballots cast than voters but on top of that, what he said is basically racist because he's saying look, the black votes shouldn't count.

TOLDON: Right and we saw this during the hearing last week where the Republican member of the canvassing board basically said, I'm ready to certify except for Wayne County, right? But they they're targeting these predominantly minority areas that went heavily for Joe Biden because they're trying to take over to change the election results.

But the reality is that voters are not going to stand for that. One of the things that was very striking about the hearing last week is the extent to which voters spoke out against these efforts to not certify the election results in Wayne County.

And so even if God forbid, state legislators were able to you know agree with President Trump and decide to send a new slate, the people would be in the streets because it's just outrageous and in this country to our norms.

WALKER: And speaking about rages, there's a Monmouth University poll just out this week that showed 70 percent of Republicans believe Biden only won because he cheated even though there is again no evidence of widespread fraud. 70 percent of Republicans and you still have the President tweeting that he won the election.

He's refusing to concede. Just talk about the impact on our democracy that this is having with a sitting U.S. President who is making an outright assault on American democracy?

TOLSON: So you know to some extent you have to wonder about you know whether he understood - the President understands that he lost but if this is about making it more difficult for President-elect Biden to govern because he has his work cut out for him. Come January, 70 percent of the people who support President Trump do not think that he's legitimate and so to some extent that makes it very difficult to the govern, right?

[08:30:00]

Because the House and Senate Republicans have been responsive to Trump supporters and so it raises the question how likely are they to work with President-elect Biden when it comes to policy and you know the coronavirus and a host of other issues where Trump supporters have not been really supportive, right?

They've you know not really want to wear mask and they've been pushing back against mandates and such and so moving forward, what does that mean for attempts to bring the country together and I think it's just very difficult yes.

WALKER: And but like you said, a lot of it goes back to civic education to people just being aware of the truth and educating themselves. Franita Tolson, appreciate you joining us, thank you.

TOLSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: For more than a 1000 people in jails and prisons across the U.S. the coronavirus pandemic has become a death sentence. We're going to talk in just a moment about the spread in a specific state that is especially bad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Texas has surpassed 1 million COVID-19 infections since the start of this pandemic. There's a new study though that shows the virus has a staggering impact on the state's inmate population. With me now, one of the study's directors, Michele Deitch, distinguished senior lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

MICHELE DEITCH, DISTINGUISHED SENIOR LECTURER, LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.

BLACKWELL: So Texas has and we can put the stats on the screen, the highest overall number of COVID infections and deaths in prisons and county jails, second highest number of cases when adjusted for population of cases, third highest number of deaths when adjusted for population. We're going to broaden this beyond Texas but first, what is happening in Texas that it's getting these distinctions because it did not start out this way?

D: Well, first of all, at the start of the pandemic, experts warned that prisons and jails were going to become petri dishes for the spread of the virus. That's because they're so densely populated. They're not sanitary places and people don't have the kinds of the access to hand sanitizers, soap, cleaning supplies, etcetera that the rest of us have.

And so we knew it was going to be a problem. Texas, like other states was caught off guard by this and the impact has been quite remarkable.

BLACKWELL: So we also learn from your study, 490 percent higher rate of spread of positivity in prisons and jails and does that include the corrections' workers, the staffing at these facilities as well?

DEITCH: No those figures, the 490 percent was based just on the prison incarcerated population.

BLACKWELL: So tell me about those who work there, the PPE availability to protect them as they go into work as well, is that a problem in Texas too?

DEITCH: Absolutely. We found that there in addition to the 190 people who are incarcerated in prisons who have died and the 14 people in jails who have died, there have been 27 staff members in prisons and jails who have died from COVID and they are at tremendous risk.

They're working under unimaginably difficult circumstances right now and certainly at the start of the pandemic, many of them were complaining that they didn't have adequate PPE. One of the big problems for staff is the understaffing problem in Texas prisons and as a result of a understaffing problem that preceded the virus, staff are being made to work overtime and extra shifts in facilities that have COVID outbreaks and as a result they're getting exposed while they're in those other facilities and bringing the virus back to their original facilities.

BLACKWELL: One of the findings that jumped off the page when I read it and I had to read it twice is that 80 percent of the people who died of COVID in county jails, they were pre-trial which means they had not been convicted of anything. They were waiting for trial. I know that earlier this year there was reporting that the pandemic was delaying the release of men and women who have been approved for parole. What's the status there now as the case through - the state is now setting - setting new records?

DEITCH: Right. So those are two different issues. In the jails, people are - a lot of people are pre-trial in our county-run jail facilities and you're right, 80 percent of the people who died in our county jails were pre-trial. For people in prison, they're all convicted but many of the people we found in that 58 percent of the people who died in prison were eligible for parole, nine of them had actually been approved for parole but their release had been delayed and they died in that period between their approval and their release.

BLACKWELL: Wow. 2.3 million people estimated incarcerated in this country and these are the numbers we're seeing as the spread continues in prisons and jails. Michele Deitch out of LBJ School there in Texas. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

DEITCH: Thank you again for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure. Amara.

WALKER: Many people here and around the world are hoping for the success of vaccines against COVID-19 but that doesn't mean everyone will get one right away. We're going to explain what the distribution plan is looking like. That's next.

[08:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: We've all seen the big breakthroughs over the past few days involving Moderna and Pfizer vaccines with Dr. Anthony Fauci saying it may now only be a matter of weeks before the first COVID-19 vaccines are available to Americans.

BLACKWELL: So here's the question. Who would be eligible to get it first. For the answer, here's CNN's Brian Todd.

[08:45:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dr. Anthony Fauci calls it the cavalry that's coming to help us get past the pandemic. Fauci and other experts are optimistic about the timeline for a wide rollout of a coronavirus vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NSAID: We likely will be able to start dispensing vaccines in December and then progressively over the next few months. The process is moving rapidly. Of the two manufacturers on the fastest tracks to produce vaccines, Pfizer -BioNTech and Moderna. Pfizer-BioNTech says it was planning to apply to the FDA for an emergency use authorization by Friday.

Moderna is expected to do that in the coming weeks. A CDC advisory committee meets this coming Monday to consider who will get the vaccine first. An FDA decision on emergency use authorization should come in early December. Then our first shot of relief.

ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, HHS: By the end of December, we expect to have about 40 million doses of these two vaccines available for distribution, pending FDA authorization. Enough to vaccinate about 20 million of our most vulnerable Americans and production of course would continue to ramp up after that.

TODD: The CDC recommends that healthcare providers who are in harm's way of the virus should get the vaccines first. Then people with underlying health conditions and other vulnerable segments of the population like the elderly. Then possibly nursing home staffers but when can the rest of us who aren't in those categories get vaccinated? HOTEZ: I'm hopeful by Q2 of 2021 so early spring that would be our

aspirational goal.

TODD: And a key part of this to remember experts say is that with most of the vaccines rolling out, we'll each have to receive two doses of it.

HOTEZ: For a least the first three of the four vaccines, they require two doses, three to four weeks apart and then it takes a week or so after that to develop robust virus neutralizing antibody immune response.

TODD: Other key questions, how and where will the vaccines get distributed. One expert says the CDC will work with the state to get the vaccines to providers who can administer them.

DR. WALTER ORENSTEIN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, EMORY VACCINE CENTER: States will be in charge of trying to determine the best way to get vaccines to the people who need them. This can include taking vaccines to special places such as hospitals or what have you for health care providers.

It could include then vaccine distributed to doctors' offices.

TODD: One expert, Dr. Peter Hotez says he's often asked which vaccine he would choose between the ones produced by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson. His answer, don't over think it. Don't wait for one particular vaccine. Get what's available first. They all work he says to keep you out of the ICU. Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

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BLACKWELL: That's an estimate that more than 54 million people across this country are struggling to feed themselves and their families because of the pandemic. We next will take you to a food bank that is working to fix that.

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[08:50:00]

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BLACKWELL: And when you're giving thanks this week, remember that there are millions of Americans who are having a hard time just putting food on the table right now.

WALKER: That's right. CNN's Natasha Chen is outside Atlanta at a food drive where cars have been lined up for hours. Goes to show just how much need there is out there. Natasha.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Amara and Victor. We've been to these before and there are just more and more people who keep coming each time. This time it's all about Thanksgiving. You've got your Turkeys and hams and boxes of produce ready to go and you've got recruits actually from the Cobb county fire department who are ready to help load all this stuff into cars.

But let's show you the actual cars here because this is only one of the parking lots. There's actually an overfilled parking lot across the way. There are already have been more than 300 tickets given out. Each ticket represents a box that can be given out and some of these people are telling me that they really have never been to a food drive prior to 2020, which goes to show just the need that this pandemic has created here. We're going to talk to Marion, Merion Pressley spoke to us a little bit earlier. Hi Marion and you were telling us that you're really collecting stuff here for your elderly aunt, is that right?

MARION PRESSLEY, PICKING UP FOOD FOR 89-YEAR OLD AUNT: Yes, I am trying to pick up something to help my aunt out for the holidays.

CHEN: And your concern is because she shouldn't really be going out and getting her own grocery?

PRESSLEY: She shouldn't be coming out in this type you know with the pandemic going on so I try to help a way. I can go to the stores and things like that for her.

CHEN: Yes and this is a relatively new experience for you to come to food drives this year, you said that it feels a little weird?

PRESSLEY: Yes, a little weird but like I told you, I'm not too proud to pay help - get help when we needed and she's the type that needs help right now. She can't really get out and get around so I'm help her the best way I can.

CHEN: With Thanksgiving coming up, how are you going to handle that with family? Are you going to gather at all, is it safe?

PRESSLEY: No, it's just going to be her and I. We're going to stay close to home. Most of my family is in other states so I won't be able to get away this year the way I would like to.

CHEN: Thank you so much Marion and so you heard that, that people are you know really being careful about how they gather with family this year and people are here, waiting to collect food because again, this is a very unusual year and people really need the help right now and they're not too proud to ask for help. Amara and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely Natasha Chen, thank you and thank you for joining us this morning.

WALKER: Smerconish is up next. We'll see you again in one hour.

[08:55:00]

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MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Will he ever concede? I'm Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia. Nobody should be surprised by the tactics of the Trump campaign in contesting the election results.