here in new york and we begin this morning with the shootings in atlanta. a terrifying escalation of the anti-asian violence seen throughout the country and a reminder of the threat of violence women live with daily. robert aaron long charged with murder after he confessed to killing eight people, six asian women. authorities say long a 21-year-old white man told detectives he would go to massage parlours in the past, he blamed his sexual addiction. the cherokee county sheriff suggested long was, quote, attempting to take out that temptation. other officials and community leaders saying that narrative misses the mark. in this particular case where the victims were asian women we see the intersections of the racism, xenophobia and gender-based violence. you know, we ve also seen historically where news outlets and the police frame the story around the perpetrator and now we re hearing about the suspect in custody and we are hearing stories about how he was religious, he su
representative bea nguyen, the first vietnamese-american to be elected to the georgia statehouse. we were speaking to lisa ling. she said too often when there are killings like this, we focus on the suspect, on the shooter. we don t ask what should be the first question which is, tell me about the victims. how are the victims? how are the people targeted? in this case, the six asian women who were killed, but also the asian american community in general. so that s my first question to you. how are you doing? what are the feelings within the community this morning. well, thank you for asking about that. i think one of the most important things we should do right now is center the victims and their families and center the asian american commune ity here in georgia but across the country. it s been a hard it s been a hard couple of days. we re very overwhelmed. there is increased fear amongst our community but there s also deep pain and anger. as you mentioned before, so oft
election interference. here at home today, new covid tremors, 770,000 americans filed for first time unemployment benefits last week, a week to week increase and it s more proof of the pandemic s continuing wrath. plus, the case count, and its trajectory is, again, causing alarm. 17 states on the u.s. map now trending in the wrong direction. air travel topping more than a million passengers for seven straight days. the president later today delivers remarks on the vaccine race. one in eight americans are fully vaccinated, 1 million shots is a goal the president wanted to meet, and perhaps today, 40 days ahead of his campaign promise. progress, yes, but some jitters too. this morning the biden health team warns variants, and vaccine hesitancy, could pull the country down into another covid spiral. and there was this. listen, the tense fight between dr. anthony fauci and senator rand paul over masks and if wearing one still matters once more americans are vaccinated. when you
december before we were sworn in to an average of 2.5 million shots a day. when he took office, they were almost at 1 million shots a day, we should note. right now, 12% of the population is fully vaccinated. experts estimate we need that number to be 70 to 85% in order for the u.s. to achieve something like herd immunity. the president is also still standing by his promise of enough vaccine supply for every american adult by the end of may. those life-saving vaccines could not come soon enough. progress in bringing down coronavirus cases are stalling. more states in the u.s. are seeing cases on the rise right now than a decline in new infections. and president biden is warning against dangerous variants of the virus. also today, some major news that could likely mean more children in classrooms sooner. an official tells cnn that the cdc is expected to update its guidance for physical distancing in schools tomorrow, changing the guidelines from six feet of distancing to thr
slamming china during a hearing on anti-asian hate. i ll get more reaction. also tonight, disturbing new video of the most violent assault on officers during the capitol riot. the fbi releasing the footage and asking the american public for help in identifying the attackers. first, let s go to cnn s amara walker in atlanta. atlanta police say their investigation is now far from over. what s the latest? reporter: first off, not too long ago this crowd behind me near one of the crime scenes gathered to condemn anti-asian hate. so that rally is underway right now, but we did just hear from the atlanta police department. we learned that the suspect had frequented these two spas before, he was quite familiar with them. he had purchased the gun the day of the shooting. atlanta police also emphasizing the fact that their investigation is slightly different from that of the cherokee county sheriff s department saying there are four asian women killed at these two spas in atlanta. t