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Hospitalizations in California hit Records; Florida Governor on Vaccinations; DC National Guard Activated ahead of Demonstrations; Hunt for New Mutations. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 5, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:24]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

Well, a dire situation across the state of California is getting even worse. In L.A. County this morning, one person is dying from COVID every 15 minutes. The hospitals there are so overwhelmed that L.A. ambulance crews have been told not to transport patients with little chance of survival.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: That's in America in the year 2020. It's alarming.

CNN's Stephanie Elam joins us now from Los Angeles.

Stephanie, I mean, you watched that curve. It's still going up, right? If they're already turning people away from essential medical treatment, what do they plan to do next week or next month?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the exact point, Jim. I wish we could somehow make people really understand how bad this is. And you saw how bad December was. Health officials here think that what can happen in January will be worse than December. They're saying that we are on track to see about 1,000 people a week die here.

We had record number of hospitalizations in California, about 22,000 people in the hospital battling coronavirus right now. And it is playing out here in Los Angeles County. They're saying of the people getting tested, and there are some massive lines that are happening right now here in L.A. County, I assume after people have finished up their holiday endeavors, now they're getting tested.

But when they said that they're doing these tests, one out of every five people who is tested is testing positive for the coronavirus. That is how prevalent it is among the people who are getting tested here.

The other issue is oxygen. So much so that Governor Gavin Newsom has set up a task force just to deal with oxygen because there are issues. The Army Corps of Engineers working with a handful of hospitals in southern California as well to try to make sure that they can get the oxygen flowing and also converting some of these spaces that are offices, for example, into places where they can now treat patients.

[09:35:10]

But all of this as this oxygen issue is playing itself out with the ambulances as well. Ambulances that are waiting hours to deliver, transfer the care of a patient from the ambulance into a hospital, but there's no beds, there's no place for these patients to wait. Many of them do need to actually stay and have that care in the ambulance and the oxygen is really a part of this problem here because there's not enough tanks or canisters that some of the people who could get out of the hospital to leave.

All of this is playing out here in Los Angeles, in 2020. And, again, when you look at these numbers of cases, Jim and Poppy, I know I keep saying it, they're not cases, they are people. They are people.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: They're infections, right? And, sadly, people are dying from this. What a way to start 2021.

Stephanie Elam, thanks very much.

Well, the governor of Florida has now warned hospitals that failure to quickly distribute COVID-19 vaccines could mean fewer doses in the future. That's quite a stick way to motivate.

HARLOW: More than 260,000 people have been vaccinated so far in Florida. You're looking at these tragic pictures. This was last week at a Ft. Myers, Florida, seniors there having to camp out overnight in these long lines with just the hope of getting vaccinated.

Our Rosa Flores joins us now from Ft. Lauderdale.

Rosa, I've always been proud to have you as a colleague and even more so this morning after your persistence in getting answers from the governor who is accountable here.

Talk to us about what you wanted to find out.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim and Poppy, this is a question that Governor DeSantis should have expected because this is the fourth week of the vaccine rollout in the state of Florida and what we're seeing are those pictures that you just showed, seniors waiting in line overnight to get the vaccine.

We actually just got fresh video from an affiliate from Daytona Beach showing at least 1,000 cars in line overnight. Now, on top of all of that, these are seniors who are being asked to call phone numbers. Those phone lines are jammed. They're asked to go to websites. The websites are jammed. So all I was trying to do was ask Governor DeSantis a very simple question, but he would not even let me finish my question.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Governor, what has -- what has gone wrong with -- Governor, what has gone wrong with the rollout of the vaccine that we've seen phone lines jammed, websites crashing --

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): There's a lot of demand. I mean I think, at the end of the day, we --

FLORES: And also if I -- if I -- if I can -- if I could -- if I could finish my question --

DESANTIS: Excuse me. Excuse me. You just said, what has gone wrong, so I'm answering the question.

FLORES: If I could complete the question, though.

DESANTIS: So are you going to give a speech or are you going to answer -- ask a question.

FLORES: With all due respect, Governor, I'm trying to -- I'm trying to finish my question.

DESANTIS: You asked the question. I'm going to answer it. You're not -- no, you're -- you're -- you're giving a speech. You asked a question.

FLORES: I am trying to ask you the --

DESANTIS: You're going to ask how many questions? You get three? They only got one question. Why do you get three?

FLORES: With all due respect, Governor, I'm just asking if I could finish my question.

DESANTIS: You didn't -- you finished the question.

FLORES: I did not. My full question is, what went wrong with the rollout of the vaccine when we've seen phone lines jammed, websites crashing and --

DESANTIS: So you're repeating your question.

FLORES: To complete it for you, Governor, we've seen websites crash and also senior citizens waiting overnight for the vaccine.

DESANTIS: Where was that at?

FLORES: We've seen it in Duval, Broward, Orange and Lee Counties.

DESANTIS: Why was -- like in Lee, why did that happen? Did you investigate why?

FLORES: That's -- that's my question to you, Governor. You're the governor of the state. I'm not the governor of the state.

DESANTIS: OK, but you didn't investigate why that how -- like in Lee County, why was there a big line? Did you -- did you investigate why?

FLORES: Could you tell us why?

DESANTIS: Because we -- we distributed vaccine to hospitals and the hospitals said first some first served. If you show up, we'll do it. So they didn't use a registration system. There wasn't anything that was done. And there's a lot of demand for it, so people are going to want to go ahead and -- and get it.

FLORES: So are you saying there was no plan then from the state to make sure that senior citizens didn't wait outside overnight?

DESANTIS: So the state is not dictating to hospitals how -- we're not dictating to Carlos Mongia (ph) how he runs his operations here. That would be a total disaster. These guys are much more competent to be able to deliver health care services than a state government could ever be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I just have to ask you, Rosa, because you've been covering this very closely, I mean, in effect, it sounds like a handoff from a handoff, right? Because the president said not our job it's up to the states, but here you have a state government saying, not our job it's up to the hospitals.

FLORES: You know, you're absolutely right. And here's the thing, hospitals -- he says hospitals are responsible. My producer, Denise, just got off the phone with Lee County. They're telling us it is not the hospitals.

Because here's how it works, Jim, the state is given the vaccines to the counties. In the state of Florida, the county health departments are run by the Florida Department of Health.

[09:40:01]

That is the state. These are appointees appointed by the governor of this state. So he's trying to wash his hands from responsibility here, but the buck should stop with him.

This is the fourth week of the rollout and as I tried to ask him while I was at that press conference, so was there no plan to make sure that senior citizens were not waiting overnight? The same thing happened when he was trying to reopen schools. I asked him during a press conference, Jim, was there a state plan to reopen schools safely? He dodged that question. He didn't answer this question, again, tried to pass the buck.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, I'll tell you, watching that attack on you, I've got to say, I mean it was a public official, but also just as a man, I found it embarrassing. So good for you for sticking up for yourself as you -- as you well should have.

HARLOW: Thank you, Rosa, for trying to get answers.

FLORES: Thank you.

HARLOW: The National Guard is set to be deployed in Washington, D.C. This is all ahead of upcoming pro-Trump rallies. The mayor of Washington, D.C., warns protesters refrain from violence regardless of their political views. We'll have an update on what's actually going to happen there, ahead.

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[09:45:31]

SCIUTTO: The National Guard will now support police here in D.C. during pro-Trump demonstrations planned in the city. This ahead of Congress' vote tomorrow to certify the election results.

And I'll tell you, Poppy, being here in Washington, there's genuine fear here about this getting out of hand.

HARLOW: Really? Does it feel different, Jim, than around the election?

SCIUTTO: It feels similar, frankly. And you see police presence. You see billboard -- rather, wood going up over windows, et cetera.

HARLOW: Boarded up. Yes. Yes. Well, let's hope that, you know, there isn't violence because it didn't come after the election.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Washington's mayor requested the help citing violence and criminal activity, some, not a lot, during some of the earlier protests.

Alex Marquardt joins us in Washington this morning.

Alex, good morning.

What do you know about how many National Guard members will be activated, where they're going to be, what they're going to do?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Poppy.

Well, we've learned -- I've been told by the mayor's office that the number of D.C. National Guardsmen being called up is around 340. At any given time it's going to be about 100 troops out in the streets.

As you mentioned, they are here. They will be out to be reinforcing the Metropolitan Police Department, but it certainly speaks to the scale and the scope of the protests that they are expecting.

They will be unarmed. The mayor of D.C. made that request in her letter. D.C. is not a state, so she does not have control over the National Guard troops, so she had to request them.

Here's a little bit more of what the mayor said about what she would like for these National Guard troops to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: Well, they're supposed to be unarmed. I've never requested armed guard in my time as mayor. But we think it's helpful to have our D.C. guardsmen who are our guard that I have requested from the secretary of the army to assist MPD with traffic management.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So they're going to be assisting in traffic management, as well as in the subway. In her request she said that it was because of violence and criminality that erupted back in November and December in similar pro-Trump protests.

As Jim was mentioning, there is real fear and apprehension in the city. Streets have been shut down. There's a large police presence.

We are expecting, over the course of the next 48 hours, a significant number of people, different rallies in different locations. I'm at one of those locations here on the ellipse. This is just south of the White House. You can see that stage right there. And the president himself has said that he will be making an appearance.

One of the groups that is set to be in town is the Proud Boys. The far right group that has been supporting the president and their leader, Enrique Tarrio, was in fact arrested last night here in D.C. for destruction of property. Back in December, he and others tore down a Black Lives Matter banner at a black church. He admitted to that. He was also found to have two high capacity firearm magazines on him for which he was also charged.

Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Remember the president's comments in the debate to the Proud Boys, stand by.

Alex Marquardt, good to have you there, but please take care.

Not only is the U.S. falling behind in getting the population vaccinated, experts say the country's dismal genetic sequencing program could mean we're missing new variants of the virus already here. Some of them have proved more transmissible. We'll discuss, next.

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[09:53:14]

HARLOW: Is already mutating. That variant, originally found in the U.K., appears to be more contagious.

SCIUTTO: And there are others.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here.

You know, Elizabeth, the U.S. did not have a national plan for testing, clearly doesn't have a national plan for vaccine distribution. I wonder, do we have a national plan now for the genetic sequencing necessary to find and track these new variants?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We do in a way, Jim, and it is about to get better.

But let's talk about where it is right now. Right now it is not doing terribly well and it is so critical to look for these new variants. There might be one that's more transmissible, as we've seen with the U.K. and South Africa. That means you need to prepare hospitals to get ready for more cases. We might find one that is more deadly, in which case doctors need to get ready to handle that. But, right now, our surveillance system is not very good. Let's take a look and these numbers will explain why.

The U.S., since the beginning of the pandemic, has done about 50,000, more than 50,000 genetic sequences. The U.K. has done more than 146,000 genetic sequences. In other words, they've taken that number of people and -- who were infected and they've done sequences of their virus to see if it's a mutation or not.

Now, as I said, hopefully going to get better. Until now the U.S. has been doing about 3,000 people per week. They've been doing genetic sequencing of about 3,000 per week. In the next two weeks, they hope to get up to 6,500 people per week. That's the goal for the CDC, to get the U.S. up to 6,500 genetic sequences per week. That would be amazing. They hope to do that very quickly. We'll have to see how that works out.

Jim. Poppy.

HARLOW: Let's hope for the best, for sure.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Elizabeth, thank you very, very much.

SCIUTTO: All right, need some good news?

[09:55:00]

We do. So we've got some for you.

You may remember our friend from across the pond, 91-year-old Martin Kenyon. He's the grandfather in the U.K. who became an Internet sensation after being interviewed on this program following his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

For a refresher, have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARTIN KENYON: I hope I am not going to have the bloody bug now. I don't intent to have it because I've got granddaughters and I want to live a long time to enjoy their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We are so happy to report that he has now taken his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so he can soon go hug all of his grandchildren. Martin says he's in good health and is still in awe of how much attention he keeps receiving over his vaccination and his Internet fame. Jim, he calls it all nonsense. A very practical guy.

SCIUTTO: Listen, more power -- more power to him. We're glad to see he can get those hugs.

HARLOW: Yes. That's a little bit of good news for you.

OK, we have a lot ahead for us next hour.

Control of the Senate up for grabs today. Georgia voters head to the polls.

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