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Deaths And Hospitalizations Hit New Highs As U.S. Waits For Vaccine; Biden Calls On Congress To Pass "Robust" Relief Package; Pfizer Vaccine To Be Distributed Across United Kingdom Next Week. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 3, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That is the most in a single day and the first time that number has surpassed 3,000. More than 100,000 Americans are now sick and in the hospital right now, also a record high.
And overnight, the nation's second-largest city issued a stay-at-home order.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: My message couldn't be simpler, it's time to hunker down. It's time to cancel everything -- and if it isn't essential, don't do it. Don't meet up with others outside your household, don't host a gathering, don't attend a gathering. And following our targeted safer at home order, if you're able to stay home, stay home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Americans intently waiting for a vaccine are wondering why Britain is rolling out theirs first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: We really scrutinized the data very carefully to guarantee to the American public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine.
The U.K. did not do it as carefully. They got a couple of days ahead. I don't think that makes much difference.
We'll be there and we'll be there very soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Athena Jones is in New York with the latest on plans to distribute vaccines in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the United Kingdom becoming the first western country to greenlight a coronavirus vaccine, plans are already underway to distribute it in the U.S. once the FDA grants emergency use authorization.
GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, U.S. ARMY, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: When an EUA decision comes, distribution to the American people becomes immediate within 24 hours. That's our goal.
JONES (voice-over): Federal officials expect 40 million doses to be available by the end of December with between five and 10 million doses becoming available each week for the first few months as vaccine makers ramp up production. The first shipment is set to be delivered December 15th for Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine and December 22nd for Moderna's.
A CDC advisory committee recommending health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be among the first to be inoculated.
Operation Warp Speed officials expect to vaccinate 20 million people in December, 30 million in January, and 50 million in February.
MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISER TO OPERATION WARP SPEED: At the end of February, we will have potentially immunized 100 million people, which is really more or less the size of the significant at-risk population.
JONES (on camera): But it will be months before most people get a shot and America is already in crisis. The White House Coronavirus Task Force warning we are in a very dangerous place with the COVID risk to all Americans at a historic high.
The CDC director, Robert Redfield, says the next three months will be the most difficult in the public health history of this country and the U.S. could see close to 450,000 deaths from COVID before February even begins.
Christine, Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Athena Jones, thank you so much.
In a show of presidential leadership in this health crisis, three former presidents are ready to roll up their sleeves to bolster public confidence in the new coronavirus vaccines. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all volunteering to get their shots on-camera once the FDA authorizes a vaccine.
Clinton and Obama got on board after President Bush apparently reached out to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx to see how he could help promote the vaccine.
ROMANS: All right. Despite the surge in coronavirus infections and deaths across the country, the White House will carry on as usual with numerous holiday parties and receptions. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany defending the president's pandemic plans at a briefing Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: I wonder does the White House -- is it setting a good example for the public that the White House will hold in-person holiday parties at a time when the CDC and other organizations are asking Americans to forego those kinds of celebrations for their own safety?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes. So, you know, if you can loot businesses, burn down buildings, engage in protests, you can also go to a Christmas party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Yes, equating a Christmas party to looting buildings in the two wrongs don't make a right department. I would put that one in there.
Not to be outdone, officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also invited hundreds of guests to the State Department for holiday receptions in the coming weeks.
JARRETT: We're going to be hearing a lot from President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris today. Both will sit down with CNN's Jake Tapper for their first joint interview since the election.
Right now, Biden's focus is on the millions of Americans struggling through this economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
We get more now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Christine and Laura, President-elect Joe Biden keeping his focus on the economy after forming his economic team earlier this week, meeting with frontline workers and business owners. Of course, workers out of a job and business owners out of customers in the wake of this recession and pandemic.
But we did hear from Mr. Biden calling on Congress to act before he takes office. But he did tell Americans that help is on the way.
[05:35:00]
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I promise you, hang on. We're going to get through this. You're going to get through this. It's going to be hard as hell for the next 50 to 70 days unless the House acts in some way, the Senate acts and passes some of this material.
ZELENY (on camera): Of course, it is an open question if the House or the Senate will act in these last days of December. But even if they do, President-elect Biden says there will still be a need for a large economic relief package that he will present in the first days of his administration. It is, indeed, a top priority for his first 100 days.
But the question is what will the size or scope be, but that will still be determined by who controls the Senate. As of now, Republicans do. As we know, that could change with those Georgia runoffs on January fifth.
Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny. Thank you, Jeff, as always.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is a leading contender to run the Department of Health and Human Services, we've learned. Sources say Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is also a contender and has been interviewed for the job. The secretary of Health and Human Services will play a central role in the coronavirus fight, which is why Biden is focusing on governors who have been on the front lines of this pandemic.
A Biden adviser says Lujan Grisham's credentials put her on top of the list because she served as health secretary in New Mexico as governor and in Congress.
JARRETT: President Trump, meantime -- his focus is not on the economic crisis or on the pandemic that's just killed a record number of Americans. No, he's still hung up on losing reelection.
The president posted a speech on social media on Wednesday so full of lies and just propaganda that's been repeatedly rejected by courts and state election officials in his own party we're not even going to show it here. We're not going to amplify it.
The president is also frustrated apparently that one of his most dependable defenders, Attorney General Bill Barr, undercut him in the press by telling the truth that the Feds haven't found any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the election.
CNN's John Harwood has more on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're looking at the possibility of even more turbulence as the Trump administration staggers its way toward the finish line.
Sources are telling CNN that President Trump is frustrated with his attorney general, Bill Barr, for the fact that Bill Barr has recognized the obvious reality that Joe Biden has won the election and that there was no systemic election fraud that decided the outcome. This is something that is agreed on -- upon by political observers but President Trump does not accept it.
Not altogether surprising that he feels burned by Bill Barr because Barr, so often in his tenure as attorney general, has done the president's political bidding. But on this, he has drawn a line.
The president is being urged by advisers not to sack his attorney general. Not clear what the point of that would be with just a little bit over six weeks left in the administration.
But the president is also frustrated, in addition to Barr's comments on the election, on his failure to bring charges against people who were involved in the investigation of the president that was instigated in 2016 with relation to his ties to Russia.
So we don't know what the president's going to do. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said today if we have a personnel announcement you will be the first to know. But no one will be surprised if the president, who likes to lash out at people he thinks have crossed him, would take this step -- Laura and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, John Harwood. Thank you, John.
Forty-eight days now until Joe Biden's inauguration and it is time for three questions in three minutes. That means we bring in CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. Good morning, John.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys.
JARRETT: Hi, John.
ROMANS: You know, former presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton in a show of presidential leadership in this terrible crisis. They're volunteering to get a coronavirus shot on camera to prove it's safe. What is the greater message this sends?
AVLON: It sends a message of personal commitment, personal safety, answering those conspiracies that I'm afraid are on the rise again -- these so-called anti-vaxxers who exist on the fringes of the system that will now be disseminating their beliefs via social media around COVID.
This is exactly what you need. You need trusted people on both sides of the aisle to show up personally and say this is safe, calm down, look at the science -- a lot of the stuff we haven't seen from this outgoing president.
JARRETT: John, Ivanka Trump, we've learned -- the president's daughter and obviously, adviser at the White House -- she's quietly been deposed.
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: It happened on Tuesday. The D.C. attorney general's office obviously investigating the inaugural committee for misappropriating funds.
This is happening at the same time, according to multiple sources, that the president is considering pardons for his children. Now, he can only pardon federal crimes. But what do you make of the fact that Ivanka's deposed and nobody knew about it?
AVLON: Yes, that's what I think is significant. You've got to separate the two issues.
But this goes back to the inaugural committee investigation in which they're charged, basically, of squandering $1 million by paying exorbitant rates at a Trump hotel. So on the way in, there's scandal and controversy about misuse of funds and there are a lot of questions about that as they depart as well with those unsealed, unredacted documents -- or redacted documents that were pushed out yesterday regarding the possible sale of pardons.
[05:40:16]
About the kids -- about the family -- again, if you're innocent you don't ask for a preemptive pardon. And the idea that this president is looking to pardon his family on the way out is such an un-American precedent that it speaks to, I think, all the smoke that hangs around this family -- one of questions of money and politics.
ROMANS: I mean, I think it's fair to say the last four -- five years have been fundamentally unprecedented --
AVLON: Yes.
ROMANS: -- in American history. I mean, just -- there's nothing like it.
AVLON: Yes.
ROMANS: OK. So, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, they sit down together for a joint interview with CNN. If you, John Avlon, were playing the part of dapper Jake Tapper today --
AVLON: Ha.
ROMANS: -- what's your first question for these two?
AVLON: I would break out my flamingo tie and I would ask them this. I'd say look, you know, Senator -- President-elect Biden, you've said that you're not going to interfere with the Justice Department attorney general with regard to any possible prosecutions of President Trump out of office.
In the conversations you're having with that still open cabinet position and the candidates you're looking at, have you raised that issue about holding former President Trump and potentially, his family and senior administration officials accountable for any laws they might have broken in office?
JARRETT: I think that's a great question.
AVLON: Well, thank you.
JARRETT: And the Justice Department has been so embattled in this administration. I think it's a fair question to know exactly what the next attorney general is going to do, how he's going to handle that, and whether the Biden administration wants to be saddled --
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: -- with more news about Trump for the next four years.
ROMANS: He or she.
AVLON: He or she.
ROMANS: Yes, all right. Thanks, John Avlon.
JARRETT: Thanks, John.
AVLON: Thanks, guys.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
JARRETT: All right. Well, tonight, President-elect Biden and V.P.- elect Harris join Jake Tapper, as we said, for their first joint interview since winning the White House. A CNN special event 9:00 p.m. tonight, only on CNN.
ROMANS: All right.
The Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell has been on the Hill this week and his message has been consistent with what he has been saying for months. This crisis is not over and there is still a lot of work to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The risk of overdoing it is less than the risk of underdoing it. That is the record of pandemics and crises.
We've come a long way. The CARES Act did a tremendous amount of good. We can see what may be the light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines.
And I just would want us -- we at the Fed will keep at it until we're really done. And I think that some fiscal support now would really -- would really help move the economy along as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Fiscal support -- that means Congress, hey, let's get something going here.
Powell also emphasized while the job market has improved the economy is still down 10 million jobs and it appears the fragile recovery is losing steam. Economists estimate 500,000 jobs were added in November. In normal times that would be a good number but that's the smallest gain since the job market started its recovery.
Data from the Fed's report on economic conditions found the renewed spike in coronavirus inspections is hurting the economy. While most of the 12 Fed regions reported modest or moderate economic growth in November, economists are worried about the fallout of this winter virus surge.
You have this fragile recovery, Laura, and now here we are with the worst of it in terms of numbers. That's going to hurt the economy -- there's just no question. People can't resume their normal life with infections like this.
JARRETT: Well, that's the thing. It always seems like this trade-off between the economy and the virus. But you can't have the economy get better --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- when the virus is where it is right now.
ROMANS: It's a delicate dance.
JARRETT: Exactly.
All right. Russia's Vladimir Putin not to be outdone in the race to get people vaccinated against coronavirus. We're live in Moscow, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:48:00]
ROMANS: Welcome back.
The first doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine roll out across the United Kingdom next week. That means Britain has vaulted past the United States and the European Union in the race to approve a vaccine for a pandemic that has killed almost 1 1/2 million people worldwide.
Let's go to London. Max Foster is there live with the latest developments for us. Hi, Max.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
So, much excitement, of course, yesterday at this news. Today, some of the challenges really setting in and the main one being this. The priority to get this vaccine top of the list of residents of care homes. It seems as though that's not going to be possible initially.
And that's because of this very complicated logistical system that they've set up for what is a very fragile vaccine. It has to be transported in very low temperatures and kept at very low temperatures before it's used. So they've set up a system where certain hospitals will receive this vaccine in the first instance.
And it comes in these packs of 975, which can't be separated under the regulations and it's the care homes that need smaller quantities, essentially. So effectively, what the health authorities here are saying is they can't get the vaccine into care homes quite yet. They say they will do so, though, as soon as it's legally and technically possible. So that's an immediate challenge. So it looks as if health workers are going to be the first ones to receive this vaccine even though they're only technically second in the list, Christine.
ROMANS: Yes. We'll see how they work out these kinks here and try to get this to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
Max Foster, thank you so much.
JARRETT: All right. Meantime, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has ordered his government to also start large-scale coronavirus vaccinations next week. He says roughly two million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are ready to go.
Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow. Matthew, nice to see you this morning.
[05:50:03]
Now, the Kremlin says more than 100,000 people have already been vaccinated, so what gives? Why is Putin wanting to ramp things up all of a sudden?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, like other countries around the world, Russia is desperate to end this pandemic as soon as it can. It's trying to cast itself as at the forefront of efforts to do that.
And so, for instance, it was the first country in the world to register for use of its own vaccine -- Sputnik V, they call it. That was registered for use back in August.
The Russian health officials that have been talking publicly in the past 24 hours saying that now, 100,000 people at least, already, have been vaccinated in this country. And that includes people who are taking part in trials, but it also includes frontline healthcare workers, members of the military. There's a big program underway to inoculate people from the Russian Armed Services.
Separately to that, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has ordered a large-scale vaccination to take place. He says they've produced two million doses of Sputnik V -- that COVID-19 vaccine -- already. There are many millions of more doses that are on the production lines now and they're going to be rolling off in the weeks and the months ahead.
And that's going to start officially from next week, although we've just heard within the past few minutes from the Moscow authorities that mass vaccination centers are going to be set up from December the fifth in this country. And so Russia is really pushing forward as fast as it can to get people vaccinated with its vaccine and to bring to a close this devastating pandemic.
JARRETT: Matthew, just quickly before we let you go, do we know anything about how those 100,000 -- how it went for them? Obviously, so many questions about Moscow rolling this out so much quicker than everybody else. Do we know anything about how that's gone for them? CHANCE: Yes. I mean, of course, there's a lot of concern around the world about has Russia moved too quickly. It was the first to register this vaccine. Is it safe? Is it effective?
But all we can say is that the scientific results that have been presented on big international kind of medical journals like "The Lancet" and "Peer Reviewed" -- they've been quite positive in the sense that they say that Sputnik V, so far according to tests, provides a strong antibody response and has no serious adverse effects.
The big concern, of course, has been that the test group -- the people involved in the trial has been a much smaller group than other pharmaceutical companies in other countries have embarked on.
JARRETT: All right, Matthew. Thank you so much for breaking all that down for us -- appreciate it.
A quick programming note for you here tomorrow night. With vaccines on the horizon, get all of your questions answered. Join Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta at 9:00 p.m. for a new "CORONAVIRUS TOWN HALL: THE VACCINES."
ROMANS: All right, it's Thursday. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.
Looking at how markets are faring around the world, a pretty mixed performance. You can see European shares have opened slightly lower here. On Wall Street, looking at futures here, mixed -- very narrowly mixed. You know, it kind of reflects what we saw yesterday -- a pretty quiet day on Wall Street.
Now that was enough, though, to make some records. The Dow closed up 59 points. The S&P 500 eked out a record high. The Nasdaq closed slightly lower.
So while you've got profits on Wall Street, there's pain, still, on Main Street -- make no mistake. And we expect jobless claims will rise again here today as the pandemic continues to slam the labor market. Those numbers come out in just a few hours.
UPS is putting shipping limits on some of its biggest retailers as online shopping really picks up steam here. The restrictions take effect this week and will run through the holiday season. Now, UPS didn't say which retailers would be affected by these new limits.
The pandemic, of course, has pushed people out of stores to shop online, especially for the holidays. Cyber Monday broke records this year, bringing in $10.8 billion in sales. That makes it the largest online shopping day in history.
The pandemic has also completely changed how millions of people spend their time online. Apple and Google released their list of the best apps of 2020 this week. They are all reminders of just how much tech helped us adapt during this -- doing everything from home during this pandemic. Topping Google's list, Luna, an app designed to help people relax and
fall asleep. I could use that. Zoom, unsurprisingly, topped both lists as millions signed on to connect with work, school, and loved ones. And, Disney+, which became a bright spot for Disney as the pandemic forced it to close its parks and lay off thousands of employees.
I mean, I'm doing a lot online. I mean, my personal screen time is through the roof. But it's for school, right?
JARRETT: Yes, you're kids.
ROMANS: For my kids' school. It's for work and, you know, occasionally to stream something.
JARRETT: Yes. It's hard to make that separation between work and home.
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: All right. Thanks so much for joining us, everyone. I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:59:17]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, December third, 6:00 here in New York.
And we begin with breaking news because more people died from coronavirus in the United States yesterday than ever before. Three thousand one hundred fifty-seven American deaths reported. That's the most in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
More than 100,000 people are hospitalized this morning, also an all- time high. And more than 200,000 new cases were reported yesterday, meaning this wave is about to get much worse. How much worse? Well, the director of the CDC warns that the next three months will be, quote, "the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So to be clear, the United States reported more deaths yesterday -- more than 3,000.
