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President Biden and VP Harris Due Shortly in Atlanta; The CDC Changes Its Classroom Safety Guidelines; Homeland Security Secretary is Heading to El Paso, TX Today. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 19, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Thank you all so much for joining us today. It's been a very busy week. I'm Kate Bolduan. Have a great weekend. John King picks up our coverage.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing a very busy news day with us, a very busy hour even.

President Biden and Vice President Harris due shortly in Atlanta. That visit originally part of the president's COVID relief tour, but now the official task is much more somber. Biden and Harris will help a community mourn. That of course after a gunman killed eight in a string of shootings in Atlanta area massage parlors.

The president stopped and answered questions from reporters a short time ago on his way out of Washington for a brisk 49 seconds, including touching on his pandemic goal of 100 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days. That will be met today.

The Biden foreign policy challenge also front and center today after a testy day one of first Biden talks with China. The Americans and Chinese trading insults and accusations Thursday on the global stage. The same day, of course, there was a sneering back and forth from the Russian President to team Biden.

This morning the president stressing what you might call a wait and see approach to both of these global challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your reaction to China last night?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very proud of the Secretary of State.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to take Vladimir Putin up on his offer to talk like with you?

BIDEN: I'm sure we'll talk at some point.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you imposing sanction on Russia, sir? BIDEN: You'll - that'll come in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Up first, though, for us today a game changing move in America's COVID back to school debate. The Centers for Disease Control last hour changing its classroom safety guidelines. The CDC says three feet of separation is safe, cutting in half the current recommendation to keep students six feet apart.

Masks are still required, but the spacing change is giant. School administrators coast-to-coast have said the six-feet rule made it impossible to safely fit all students back in school. Let's take a look at the numbers now, especially the new CDC guidelines as we walk through this. Here they are just out last hour.

The CDC now saying it's revising it's physical distancing in classrooms from six feet to three feet, removing also the recommendation for physical barriers between students and between students and teachers. It does say you should keep teachers and students in cohorts throughout the day, keep the same groups together as they move through class and keep distance and require masks on school buses.

If you're going to bring more children back to school the CDC says you need to be careful. Make sure the school buses are safe. It does say keep the six-foot rule in place for some people under some circumstances. Among adults and between adults an children, keep six feet distance. When masks can't be worn, the CDC says, of course, keep six feet apart.

And it says in middle and high schools in communities that are still dealing with high-COVID transmission you should keep the six-foot rule in place. Activities like singing, band, sports, and in big common areas the CDC recommends keep students six feet apart to be extra safe there.

If you want to take a look here at what it looked like under the current guidelines until they were changed just today, six-feet classrooms. This is when a lot of schools said, yes, we can bring people in but we can't bring all of our students back because you can't fit them when you space the desks out like this. Going from six feet to three feet, especially in school systems with limited space, limited money should be able to put more students back in a classroom.

That's why so many administrators said at six feet we can't bring everybody back. At three feet we could try to work that out. If you look at the cases, some have been arguing for some time transmission among children is lower. School is not unsafe. Let's get our children back to school. The numbers do tend to back that up.

Children, 13 percent of all COVID infections in the United States over the past year depending on where you cut the age cutoff, 16, 17, 18. They make up about 24, 25 percent of the population, so they are a smaller percentage of the cases than they are the population. And of late the case numbers among children have been coming down. Obviously January was the winter peak and like the overall case count the numbers among children have come down, plateauing a bit right now. Most of the scientists saying it is safe to get children back in school, and important both educationally and psychologically if you do the safety concerns.

The Boston School Superintendent says they're planning on bringing kids back to classes next month, and the spacing requirement was actually part of that plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDA CASSELLIUS, SUPERINTENDENT, BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Part of that plan is to be able to have the three feet of distance in order to have the capacity within our schools to meet all of the students that want to come to in-person learning. We know that our children have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic this past year, and as it continues to weight (ph) on their mental health, their social isolation has been extremely challenging for them to just get up out of bed and attend class.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's get some insights from someone who spends a lot of time on this issue, the Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, Caitlin Rivers, also a Senior Scholar at the John's Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Caitlin, grateful you're with us on this important day. You've spent a lot of time on this.

[12:05:00]

As you look at the new CDC guidelines, they will be oversimplified perhaps, so please help me with this. But you go from six feet to three feet, you remove the requirement for physical barriers. When you walk though them, you know, how did the CDC do here? Anything glaring missing in your regard or they get it about right?

CAITLIN RIVERS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I think it's good news that will allow our children to go from online learning or hybrid learning back to full time school. We know that prolonged close contact is a risk factor, and that is why the six-feet recommendation has been in place, but I think what we see from CDC today is a recognition that by the time you consider mask use, by the time you consider vaccination of people high risk of severe illness, ventilation, testing for which $10 billion was recently announced in school.

By the time you layer all those mitigation measures on there are - there's an opportunity for wiggle room to get more kids back into the classroom. And so, I think that's what we're seeing today.

KING: The two major teachers unions in the United States saying reserving judgment and voicing some hesitation. The American - National Education Association, excuse me, says it'll be particularly challenging to take the requirement from six feet to three feet and says now is not the time to back off safety measures.

The American Federation of Teachers says it will reserve judgment, and it also says, you know, the most enduring safety standard of this pandemic has been the six-foot rule. They want more information. Do they have a point or do you believe the CDC now has enough data to say these new guidelines are safe and people should go back to school?

RIVERS: From a public health perspective I'm comfortable with the three-foot recommendation particularly because CDC take pains to recommend all of the other mitigation measures that we know reduce risk. We have an eye towards the level of transmission happening in communities.

I think what schools are grappling with, though, is that many of them have already started for this spring or already have plans in place. And so, pivoting to getting all kids back in the classroom, it's a big operational change, and I think that is a struggle.

KING: You wrote about this a bit in a piece - an essay your co- authored with Scott Gottlieb in The Wall Street Journal the other day. He's the former FDA Commissioner, and you talked about the challenges. You said, "the CDC should encourage larger trials, this is of vaccines among children. If the agency thinks those will be needed to recommend vaccination in children it may be 2022 before young children have a vaccine option.

This means classrooms will need mitigation measures in the fall. The substantial public health alarms that are having so many kids out of school for so long must be considered along with the risks." As a parent I'm with you on that last part about getting kids back in school.

Put the pieces of the puzzle together. Do you believe whether it's now, and you mentioned some schools are already in their plans, so it's hard to adapt to new regulations. Between now and September what are your biggest questions?

RIVERS: Well I think that the vaccine is probably not going to be available for the youngest children in the fall. And so, we do need to have a long-term eye towards what will happen not just through the spring but also through summer and fall. I think that means we will likely continue to see masks in classrooms. I think we'll avoid group settings, school assemblies, congregation in the front hall, but I think that we are moving back towards having our kids in school full time, and I think that's great news.

I'm really looking forward to sending my oldest back to school, and I think that it's been a very tough year for families. And so, the more that we can do to get our children back in school safely the better.

KING: Let me ask you on another subject where we are in the vaccine rollout race if you will. The president - the new president promised 100 million shots in his first 100 days. They're going to hit that today. So they're going to hit it before 60 days. And so, the question is how - by 100 days where can you get? Larry Hogan, the Governor of Maryland, says he's trying to do the best he can, but he believes there's going to be a bit of a hold up in vaccine supply. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): I think some states are saying that they're opening up eligibility but they don't actually have the vaccines. For the next two weeks the federal government has told us there will be no additional vaccines, but starting on the 29 of this month that week we're going to start to see a significant increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: By no additional he means there's about 16 million vaccines going out to the states this week and the states then distribute them. There's another six million or so the federal government is sending directly to pharmacies and community health centers. Do you believe - the president just said as he was leaving the White House, he believes it's possible to double the 100 million. If you stay at 2.5 million vaccine shots a day it's possible to get to 200 million vaccines by the 100 days. Is that realistic?

RIVERS: I certainly hope so. We have seen that vaccine supply has expanded nearly week over to week. There may be a little bit of a plateau right now this month, but the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is now authorized for use. That will add a lot to our supply.

And looking head I think we may have a bigger problem with convincing people that the vaccine is safe and effective more so than making sure that we're able to get vaccines to everyone who wants one, and I think that's the next big challenge is reaching people where they are, addressing their concerns, and making sure they feel comfortable making this choice. I think that's the next big thing we need to tackle.

KING: As we watch the many challenges play out we will stay on top of that vaccine hesitancy. Caitlin Rivers, as always grateful especially on this day with some big breaking news for your insights. Appreciate it.

RVIERS: Thank you.

[12:10:00]

KING: Up next for us new details about that horrific shooting rampage in Georgia and the vice president and the president land there this hour for meetings with Asian American community leaders.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: The Fulton Country Medical Examiner today identifying four women who were among those killed in Tuesday's spa shooting rampage in and near Atlanta. Soon Park was 74. Hyun Grant was 51. Suncha Kim was 69, and Yong Yue was 63. All died of gunshot wounds. Four others also were killed. Six of the eight were Asian women. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEE NGUYEN, GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I believe they ought to investigate it as a hate crime and they ought to listen to the Asian people living in Georgia and to the community as a whole because we are the ones asking this to be considered a hate crime and to be investigated as one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[12:15:00]

KING: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are due in Atlanta this hour, and state representative, Bee Nguyen you just saw right there is among the community leaders who will join the president and vice president to discuss the shootings and this past year's national spike in attack on Asian Americans. The president and vice president also will visit the CDC to highlight progress in the COVID vaccine fight, and they're also meeting with Stacey Abrams to discuss voting rights, including dramatic new restrictions being considered by the Georgia State Legislature.

With us to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Jeff Zeleny who's on the ground in Atlanta, and Seung Min Kim of The Washington Post. Jeff, let me start with you. This was a trip originally planned for the president to highlight the COVID relief package and the COVID fight and then a little bit of politics, but it has a very different meaning now.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John, it has a very different meaning and this is yet another example, perhaps the first example for President Biden in this role that presidents do not control events. They react to events, and events control narratives and administration.

So President Biden initially coming to Georgia, a key state to him not only, of course, helping him win the White House but getting him that Democratic Senate majority which allowed the COVID relief bill to happen. He was going to rally support behind that, explain the benefits of the bill. That now is put on hold for a far more pressing, urgent conversation with Asian American community leaders here in Atlanta.

Of course the community is reeling after the horrific shootings earlier this week of eight women, six of Asian descent. And he is going to be hearing from them directly, and quite frankly candidly about, you know, is the White House doing enough to classify this as a hate crime, to call for the investigation of this as a hate crime.

One thing the president has done just a few moments ago put out a statement calling on Congress to pass the COVID-19 Hate Act, which would raise the awareness for the rising violence against Asian Americans in the country, but certainly a challenging moment for the president.

He'll be making remarks this afternoon here after that meeting at Emery University, and I'm told there are going to be forceful remarks, the most forceful he's delivered yet calling out the hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans here in this country, John.

KING: And Seung Min, we had a bit of this conversation yesterday about how much words matter, and in your - The Washington Post today, your newspaper there's some data that shows that after former President Trump used anti-Asian slurs several times during COVID that that was - there was a spike that followed not long after.

So it is critically important. You have both the president and the vice president deciding to do this event today, but to Jeff's point there's listening to community leaders. There's voicing your sympathy and concern, and then there are specific questions as you heard from the states representative saying will the president get out ahead and label this a hate crime?

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. Well and so far President Biden has declined to label it as such. He has been briefed by the FBI. He has been briefed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, and he says he is waiting on law enforcement to kind of make their determinations before he uses those labels in what happened and the tragedy in Atlanta over the last - in the last week.

But certainly he and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first vice president of South Asian descent to occupy that position, have made it clear that the rise in anti-Asian harassment, violence especially over the last year is absolutely abhorrent and should be condemned.

And that study was really interesting because defenders - the study that you just mentioned because defenders of President Trump's rhetoric say it's not racist. He is just pointing out the facts that, you know, this virus originated in Wuhan, China, but there's a way that a president says it.

And I think the study showed with the spike and the use of anti-Asian sentiment, kind of the use of the hash tag Chinese virus literally the week after President Trump first uttered the words Chinese virus you see that direct correlation between what the President of the United States says and how that filters down into people across the country or across the world, so I think that study was really important to show just that link between, you know, the leader of the free world and how that really matters.

KING: Right. And Seung Min, I want to stay with you for just a minute because one of the complaints from the Asian-American community is these horrific hate attacks, whether it's violence or words, which are violent in their own way, don't get as much attention, enough attention in their view.

And it comes at a time when it's - I don't - maybe it's crass to connect the two dots, but it's just a fact the Asian American community across this country is a rising political force in its numbers. A swing vote in Georgia right now, 3 percent of the vote, fastest growing piece of the electorate. 4.6 million voters back in 2000. 11.1 million voters today.

So this is a community that believes, again, whether it's in tragedy or not it deserves a bigger seat at the table.

KIM: Especially in Georgia where that state and more relatively more so than in other states. And in some other swing states you've seen the power of the Asian American vote in the last several cycles, including in Georgia this past presidential cycle.

[12:20:00]

And at the same time a lot of the advocates that we and my colleagues at The Washington Post have talked to advocates for the Asian American community they've also pointed that - pointed out that it's times like these when the - when, you know, the focus on - is on the community, the national spotlight is on the Asian American community that right now the relative lack of Asian American, Pacific Islanders in this administration, in this White House is particularly glaring.

The White House has been committed to and the White House has been doing a lot of outreach to the AAPI groups over the last 48 hours. That something that the Asian American community really appreciates, but they're saying now that there needs to be more representation at the highest levels of government particularly for times like this.

KING: Well I guess I'm guessing the president and the vice president will hear that face-to-face in just a short time. Seung Min Kim, Jeff Zeleny, grateful for the important reporting and insights. And let's get some important perspective right now from a member of Atlanta's Asian community.

Long Tran is the owner of Peachy Corners Cafe. Thank you so much for joining us today, and we express our sorrow for the pain in your community. All of us at CNN do, and I do personally. What do you want to hear from the president and vice president today? What's the most important thing they could say during this visit?

LONG TRAN, OWNER, PEACHY CORNERS CAFE: What I want to hear from the president is that the acknowledges that there's pain in our community right now, that this has been rising not just over the past year but before then, and this is decades, centuries old systemic problems of discrimination within our country, and that him and the vice president, they're going to formulate a plan, they're going to push for the tough discussions across our communities and our leaders to address this.

KING: You're a small businessman. These were small businesses that we hit in this horrific, violent act. I know I saw our team reached out to you beforehand, and you have made it a point that you yourself and you're talking to friends in the community saying (ph) keep your businesses open. Do not give into fear. Why is that so important to you?

TRAN: It's important to show that we're not going to crumble or wither in the face of violence - violent acts, in the face of hate, and that's what this was. And you know, we have to show that we are strong as a community. It's the only way we're going to let our neighbors and our patrons know that you can come to our businesses with confidence, that we are looking out for you and that we also need your support.

We can't do that if we close our doors and go into hiding, so we've got to be strong.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Explain - forgive me for interrupting.

TRAN: Yes.

KING: Explain if you will. Please help our viewers understand the pain in the conversations among your friends and family members right now.

TRAN: The pain runs the gambit from we've known that this is a possibility for a very long time that things were leading up to this point. What could we have done more about it? To grief and sorrow for these families. I know many of the leaders in my community, like myself, haven't had a chance to grieve and mourn because we're doing our best to support the victims, and we have other families out there that are in complete shock and their children need support because they've been bullied and harassed at school, and now they truly have something to fear.

KING: Long Tran, grateful - really grateful for your time and insights from the ground there in Atlanta today. Appreciate it very much. Thank you.

TRAN: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

KING: Best of luck, sir. Thank you, sir. Best of luck. Appreciate it. As we go to break, the House observing a moment a silence for the Georgia shooting victims and to show solidarity with the Asian American community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The Chair asks that all members in the chamber as well as members and staff throughout the Capitol to rise for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the horrific shootings in Georgia this week and in solidarity with all members of the AAPI community facing discrimination and violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:29:07]

KING: The Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, is heading to El Paso, Texas today to get a firsthand look at the border facilities there. This trip comes as the House passes two immigration bills and as federal officials report they have more than 14,000 migrant children in custody while continuing to insist this surge is not a crisis it is the White House that has been most careful in trying to label the growing migrant issues on the southern border as a challenge, but the word crisis did pop up at the briefing yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There have been expectations set outside of unrelated to any vaccine doses or requests for them that they would be partners in dealing with the crisis on the border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you were talking a moment ago about diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Mexico you said crisis on the border. W as that a -

(CROSSTALK)

PSAKI: Challenges on the border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. But - so that's not - that doesn't reflect any change in the administration's -

(CROSSTALK)

PSAKI: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- view of things?

PSAKI: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00]