Transcripts For CNNW New Day With Alisyn Camerota And John Berman 20201209

Not to get the Pfizer Vaccine after two Health Care Workers suffered allergic reactions to that shot. So we have sanjay to explain what all of that means, ahead. So this morning, the president still trying to overturn the election he lost in public, but he appears to now have lost one avenue he was counting on, the Supreme Court. The court in one terse sentence denied the attempt to reverse the Election Results in pennsylvania. So which republican senator or congressman will now come out and say that joe biden won the election . Mitch mcconnell . Ted cruz, Kevin Mccarthy . Feel free to call, the phone lines are open this morning. Also new this morning, cnn has reported that president elect joe biden will name two new cabinet members. Well tell you which positions they will fill shortly. But we begin with dr. Sanjay gupta on the breaking news out of the uk. Sanjay, great to see you. So were all waiting to see what happens after we watch the first people get the Pfizer Vaccine yesterday. And now we have a little bit of information about two of the people who received the vaccine. Heres the press release. As is common with new vaccines, the mhra, thats the agency, have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccine after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday. And just to be clear, sanjay, this doesnt mean the allergies that im suffering, the morning allergies that im suffering that can be fixed with an allergy pill. This is different. So what are their telling us . Yeah, so this is this is interesting. And i think its going to it would certainly dictate the response, as we roll out this vaccine around the world. They specifically said that people with a severe allergic reaction to medicines, foods, or previous vaccines shouldnt take this vaccine. This may be the guidance that evolves over time. Theyre obviously being cautious. What we dont know for certain is what exactly the people who had this allergic reaction to, what they were reacting to within the vaccine. Its is a different sort of vaccine. Was it something that was used to make the vaccine, was it how it was stored in some way . Thats going to be an area of investigation. With an allergic reaction like this, it typically takes place quickly, within 10 to 15 minutes, which is why for all vaccines, youre typically asked to stay at the doctors office, for this sort of thing. People may develop chest tightness or flushing on their skin. Oftentimes, with epinephrine or even with Something Like benadryl, if its more serious, you want to use epinephrine, you can basically treat it. But it is gong to be a question sort of Going Forward now. Theres lots of people who may identify themselves as having severe allergic reactions to things, especially if it includes foods, medicines, and previous vaccines. Now, when we were looking through the pfizer data, ill just share with you quickly, it is interesting, they did exclude people with a history of significant adverse allergic reactions in the past, within the clinical trial. So now are going to exclude people Going Forward in the general population . Well see. Obviously, thats happening in the uk. Thats very interesting. I did not know that. So people who may be in this group that have been affected in the uk, they were not part of the trial, so this may be the first time we are seeing whether people with a history of severe allergic reactions again to that subset, youre talking about medicines, vaccines, and foods, were seeing how they may be affected. And sanjay, just to reiterate this. And again, the fda is meeting tomorrow in the United States to determine whether to grant emergency use authorization. They likely will. I want people to be clear, whats happening in the United Kingdom is notable, its happening every day. But again, not cause for alarm. This is a matter of course for vaccines, yes . Yes, its common when you roll out new vaccines to have, you know, new adverse effects that may occur. And i should point out, both of these Health Care Workers recovered fine, theyre doing fine, but there are new adverse effects that typically appear. We dont know the denominator here. What percentage of people this likely affected. Well have to figure that out. And im sure its going to be a topic of discussion at the Fda Advisory Committee tomorrow, as well. Also, you know, are there other sorts of strategies Going Forward for people who have had significant Adverse Reactions, is it just going to be, look, this is not a vaccine for you . Is it something where you say, you can pretreat with benadryl or Something Like that. We dont know. That is something that happens. There are, you know, Adverse Reactions even to the flu shot. Typically, its because people ma may have a preexisting allergy to eggs or Something Like that. With this mrna vaccine, its made in a different way, so we have to better understand what exactly people are reacting to and how to best address that. We dont know that yet. And if youre starting to basically say, anybody who has significant allergies to foods, medicines, or vaccines in the past, were going to have to better define that. What specifically constituted a severe allergy. Did someone develop significant allergic symptoms within a few minutes of receiving the vaccine . Did it involve tightness in the chest, flushing on the skin, people develop stomach upset . What was it exactly . As we get more of those details, well certainly share them with you, but that would provide more context for people out there who are starting to think when they might get the vaccine. Definitely, sanjay. You and i have talked about this in the past. Ive done a lot of reporting on Vaccine Hesitancy, and this is just all some people need to hear, because theyre already skittish about getting it. And even though a reaction to a vaccine is literally one in a million. I mean, dr. Offit just said that those are the numbers that might have some sort of severe allergic reaction, thats all they need to hear to kind of pump the brakes. So us being transparent and talking about it and finding out that it can easily be rectified and that these two Health Care Workers are fine, thats, i think, really helpful. And one question, does do these new findings possibly change the fda approval that were expecting tomorrow for the emergency authorization . I think thats a really important question, you know, for this authorization tomorrow. My guess is, its not going to change that authorization or change the likelihood of that authorization. We dont know for certain, obviously, whats happening yet. But i think its going to factor into the discussion. Obviously, youve talked to paul offit. He sits on these Advisory Committees, but i think one of the things thats going to be important is exactly what youre saying, alisyn. Is to address the significant Vaccine Hesitancy that already exists by really, really defining exactly what happened here, not shying away from it. Something happened, the two workers, theyre doing fine. I dont know, maybe you know, if they received epinephrine or benadryl or what they received that might give some context into how significant these allergic reactions were, but also, what is it going to mean for people Going Forward . Should, if somebody has had any kind of reaction in the past, should they be pretreated with benadryl or Something Like that to basically, you know, mitigate of reduce the likelihood that theyll have another allergic response . Were learning, right now, realtime, as we go along, as we see this you know, what will be one of the largest vaccine rollouts in our history go out, weve got to define these things very, very carefully. Look, we dont know the answers to those questions yet. This new information is coming to light by the hour. And i suspect well learn more by tomorrow when the fda does meet. Sanjay, i want to talk about where we are exactly today, which is 105,000, nearly, americans hospitalized with coronavirus. Thats a record. There was a big jump overnight in new hospitalizations, which is a real concern to me, because this is one of the metrics that cant be fudged and is a real sign of things to come. 2,500 new deaths reported overnight, which again for a tuesday is so high, because these numbers tend to rise over the course of the week, thats where we are. Things are bad and getting worse in the shortterm. President elect joe biden announced his plan for what he intends to do about this, starting on january 20th. He says he will call for a hundredday mask mandate. Thats not forcing everyone to wear a mask, but requiring masks in federal buildings, calling on state governors and plaimayors launch mask mandates, and the interesting something is distribute 100 million vaccines, try to administer about 100 million shots in the first hundred days. Your take on this plan . Well, you know, this is a sort of solid plan that weve been hearing about in fragments over the last several months. You know, its sort of laid out here. I know that he did this in consultation with dr. Fauci, as well, so it fits very much with what weve been hearing from them. 100 million doses in a hundred days. First of all, this may be more than just semantics, but 100 million doses versus 100 Million People are two different things, because these vaccines require two doses. So is it 200 million doses . And if so, we can start to look at the calendar here in terms of likelihood of getting that many vaccines out. Youve seen, obviously, so far, for this year, they say 40 million vaccines potentially by the end of the year. And that counts on both pfizer and moderna receiving this emergency use authorization. As you go into the following hundred days, you know, in the beginning of next year, you know, you start to get to that point where you may get to 100 to 150 million doses, but you may also have two other vaccines come online. I spoke to moncef slewy about this. And its possible that johnson johnson, the oxford subsaidiary and astrazeneca may apply for emergency use authorization some time early thnext year. That would help make up the shortfall. Things have got to go well and youre probably going to need more than the existing two vaccines that have applied for emergency use authorization. One thing i just want to follow up on as well with the hospitals, because i totally agree with you, and its the metric i probably paid the most attention to over the past several months, because its the truest, most consistent measure. You see the numbers going up, but theres another measure that we should be paying attention to, and that is that the likelihood of being able to get hospitalized, if you have illness. So, even though the overall hospitalizations are going up, the percentage of people, the merge of people who are sick is actually going down. And what that means, basically, take a look at the numbers there. In august, it was 9. 5 of patients who have been admitted to the hospital. Now its 7. 4 . Why is that significant . It basically now gives you an idea that hospitals are starting to compensate. They are starting to basically say, look, youre coming in, but youre not sick enough. Three months ago, we would have admitted you to the hospital, but not today, because we simply are running out of room. These the types of triggers, measures, compensatory mechanisms that we look at to see how hospitals are starting to cope. Its worrisome as we start to rouc run out of beds. Field hospitals like we saw in wisconsin and rhode island, those types of things may be cropping up more and more. Very interesting statistic. Very revealing and very helpful. Thanks, sanjay. We will be able to post some of these questions to the health and Human Services secretary, alex azar, when he was on our program in the next hour. And Rudy Giuliani didnt have any problems getting in the hospital, did he . No, he didnt. I wonder why that is. Millions of americans desperately in need of stimulus checks, but there is a new uncertainty about the deal, and so we have details ahead. If you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. 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The conservative Majority Court which has three members, which he appointed, denied a republican effort to block the certification of joe bidens victory in pennsylvania. Joining us now, cnn chief political correspondent, dana bash. Also with us, cnn political analyst, toluse olorunnipa, a White House Reporter for the washington post. Obviously, the court denied it because it was a ridiculous case, as all of these cases have been. Dana, im sure your phone has been ringing off the hook from Republican Leaders in Congress Like Mitch Mcconnell and Kevin Mccarthy and senators like my phone is blowing up. Saying, dana, dana, the president won the election. We admit it now if Mitch Mcconnell calls me one more time, its going to be an issue. Im kidding, obviously. Thats why alisyn is laughing. Of course, that should have been the case. This should have been the case for weeks and weeks and weeks. But it is not the case. And you know, our colleague, steven collinson, who every morning has a terrific analysis piece, started his so beautifully this morning, saying, the question is, how many times does President Trump want to lose the election . Because that is what he is setting himself up for over and over and over again. And the most embarrassing was what happened last night at the Supreme Court. That one line, that one sentence she put out there. And it spoke volumes in its brevity. And the fact that the three Supreme Court justices that he nominated, that he pushed through confirmation in the u. S. Senate didnt use their opportunity to dissent tells you all you need to know. Now, real quick, i will tell you that what these republicans, not necessarily Mitch Mcconnell, but republicans are saying publicly and privately is, look for monday. Monday is the day that the Electoral College meets. Look for that to be a turning point. But weve heard similar things before and we havent seen the full embrace of reality from these leaders. Lets see if this is different. Just help me keep up, toluse, with the conspiracy theories that republicans are hanging their hat on. So, if i follow the logic, now the Supreme Court is part of the deep state, even the three conservative justices that President Trump appointed to it, so theyre now against President Trump, much like the republican secretaries of state in battleground states. Fbi . Well, obviously attorney general. Oh, the attorney general, right. And so, i mean, its starting to sound like anybody whoever disagrees with President Trump is part of the deep state. But i could be wrong. Yeah, the president s list of allies is really shrinking, as he alienates more and more people, even within his own party. You have the republican governor of georgia and arizona, who are now rhinos in the words of the president , even his own handpicked attorney general, who has gone to bat for him on a number of different issues over the past several years, is now sort of on the outs with the president saying, if he does not step in to essentially substantiate these baseless voter fraud charges, hes going to essentially be, you know, cast aside from this movement. So the president is finding himself with fewer and fewer allies. Now, he has been able to keep a large number of people within his party onboard. We havent seen, as we said, you know, Mitch Mcconnell speak out and say that this election is over and its time to move on. There have been the vast majority of elected republicans in congress have not spoken out against the president or said that joe biden is the next president , which is the fact on the ground. But, you know, the president is losing over and over and over again with people that he thought would be on his side, whether its the Supreme Court justices, judges that he appointed as he remade the judiciary, republican secretaries of state, republican governors. Its pretty clear at this point that his avenue to having four more years in office is closing very quickly and he has a number of people to blame, but it seems like right now, its only himself to blame, because he does not have much of an argument as to why he should remain in office for four more years, when the voters chose different. Look, ive said this before, but the president once claimed that he wins so much that we would get tired of all the winning, he never gets tired of losing, clearly, because it continues no pile up. I want to put one more pin in this, or a button, because we all smiled, but theres nothing funny about trying to overturn an election or undermine democracy. And george conway, republican conservative lawyer with jake made this clear really succinctly, theyre talking about a new lawsuit being filed by the state of texas, which is legally and constitutionally ridiculous, frankly, and i assume the court will say the psalm thing. Let me play georgias sound. This is the most insane thing yet. Theyre throwing in all the garbage allegations of fraud that the Trump Campaign wouldnt even put in some of their complaints in Federal District court. Its absurd and an embarrassment and for a public official, let alone any lawyer, let alone any member of the Supreme Court bar to bring this lawsuit is atrocious. Dana . I mean, hes right. Hes right. I mean, thats why most of the lawyers who were around the president even in his impeachment are kind of nowhere to be found on a public level, because they dont want to have their name associated with this. But i want to associate bhoomys with what you said, john. Because at this point, you almost have to laugh because its so ridiculous, but it isnt funny. Because the longer with every day that goes by, without Republican Leaders acknowledging the reality, the seeds of doubt and the lies that are coming from the top, from the president of the United States, go deeper and deeper and deeper into the soil of this country. And it will be very hard to rid this country of that disinformation or of that misinformation. And it will be hard to govern. And it is really dangerous. And the fact that these Republican Leaders continue to just ignore the reality, its way beyond political. We know why theyre doing it. We know all the political reasons why theyre doing it. But it does have real consequences. And so while all of this theater or whatever it is is happening, toluse, americans are waiting for hours in food lines with cars stretched down the highway, stretched around blocks and blocks. Where are we with a stimulus bill and a relief bill today . Well, it seems like we may be getting closer, but in normal circumstances, you would expect the president of the United States to be the leader in these negotiations, bringing both sides into a room and actually cutting deals to make sure that people get help. We have seen a very different approach from this president. He has been sort of an afterthought in these negotiations. It does appear that the white house has put out a counteroffer, 916 billion, which democrats say is a nonstarter. Theres a lot of questions about whether or not the two sides can come to some kind of an agreement over the next several days. With the clock ticking, it does appear that theyre closer than they were last week, in some ways, but still far apart on a number of different issues. Its not beyond the realm of possibility that we go into christmas, into the holiday period, and all of these people suffering, going into food lines, do not have any prospect of the kind of relief theyve been hoping for for several months now with the political polarization, the culprit here, and becoming the grinch and not allowing people to have a holiday period where they can expect their leaders to give them some sort of relief at the end of the year. We may have some news on that in just a few minutes here on this show. Joe manchin, who has been in the middle of negotiations will come on. Well get an update from him on where things stand. I manage hes been up all night working. Dana, toluse, appreciate it. Let us know if you get a call from a republican senator. Traveling nurses work in some of the worst hot spots in america, two of them will tell us their story, next. New projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. A son once returned home from afar and gave to his father a gift. It wasnt a thing of great meaning but a thing of quality and purpose. This gift was used well. Over 40 years this thing of quality of purpose. Became a thing of the heart. A thing of a son. The only thing a disaster cant destroy is hope. Donate now at redcross. Org you can do better, steve get a freshly made footlong, from subway® you can even order on the subway® app did i just get picked off by Deion Sanders . You sure did now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. Because its footlong season™ heres another cleaning tip from mr. Clean. Cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. Theres an easier way. Try mr. Clean magic eraser. Just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum. And cakedon grease from oven doors. Now mr. Clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. Theyre perfect for icky messes on stovetops. In microwaves. And all over the house. For an amazing clean, try mr. Clean magic eraser, and mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. There are more people in the hospital right now with coronavirus in the u. S. Than ever before. Many hospitals stretched to the breaking point and so are the personnel, the doctors and nurses there. Which means that many hospitals are calling upon traveling nurses to race to the hot spots to help. Joining us now are two of them. Laura lifiin and laura fi fitssimmons. Thank you very much for being here. Laura, i want to start with you. How does this work. How do you figure out which hospital needs your help and which one you need to parachute into . And how long do you stay . The contracts, they range from 4 to 13 weeks and we basically the hospitals put out a call to the agencies and the agencies answer on their website. So we look to where were going and let our recruiters know, this is where we want to move into. And laura, you do it at great personal sacrifice. You have two little kids. Yep. They, i hope one day they maybe see this and know that i do it for them. Yeah. I mean, but you can be away from them for many weeks. And i know that, look, youre helping out all of these places that are not even understaffed. Theyre just doctors and nurses who are exhausted. For instance, in april, you were in new york city. In july, you were in arizona. You spent october in wisconsin. Youre now back in green bay. And i read that you said that youre still haunted by some of the things that you saw in new york city. What do you mean . There are stories, there are things that the virus does to your body that you dont forget. They stay with you. The people stay with you. And the face time calls, their families, all of these things, they stay with you. If anybody needs to know anything, its that we dont forget you after youre gone. I mean, thats beautiful, except that obviously, it takes a toll on you guys. I mean, not being able to sleep much, because youre haunted by some of the things i mean, one of the things that i read, is just the rows and rows of intubated patients stays with you. Yeah, yeah. And thats not uncommon in the icu, to have, you know, people are on ventilators. Morgan, how about you . So tell us what these this past these past ten months have been like for you . I mean, its been really interesting. I have been er pretty much the whole time and i was actually in upstate new york during the tail end of the summer. So it was a very different picture, but things were definitely starting to ramp up with more covidpositive people, right before i left in october, before coming here. And then honestly, this is probably the most exposure that ive had to covidpositive patients in the er since everything has kind of begun. And having exposure to people with a deadly virus, what does i mean, how how do you do that every morning . What do you tell yourself about the risk that you might be taking . I mean, i find comfort in the fact that i feel like my i feel like im fairly healthy, im young, i dont have any comorbidities and people with Health Similar to mine are faring fairly well, but people are still having residual issues, and i have friends who have had complications, so keeping in mind to be mindful, wash your hands, wear ppe, be mindful of yourself and the people around you. Now that youre in green bay, are you encountering some patients that are deniers . Yeah. I think theres a little bit of skepticism everywhere, which is really challenging, because this is very real. Ive been a nurse for five years in the er and cant say ive seen anything like it. When you say skepticism among these patients, what does that sound like . What do they say to you . I had someone say to me that they couldnt wait until the election was over, for this to be over, and i had you know, you have people be like, so do you think this is like biomade or do you think that its like real . And im like, oh, goodness. And these are people who are sick, right . Yeah. Yeah. Mmhmm. Not to say that all are sick with covid, but yeah, there are people who are being treated in the e r. These are people in the er, and they thought, at least one of them, it was all going to go away on election day. Yeah. Man, i wish that was true. That would make our jobs a lot easier. What do you say to them . You know, its really interesting, because you these people are very in their mindset, so, im like, no, you know, i can see what it does to people, i can see the lab work and the xrays, we can see the imaging. The positive tests, theyre not fake. And people are like, nah, it will be done. It will just be done. And im like, you know, a pandemic doesnt work that way. So margorgan, where do you g the strength to do this every day . I mean, youve got to think that everyone is a loved one. Whether this is a pandemic or this is before or after, like, were in this to help people. And i would like the best care for my parents, for my father, for my mother, for my sister. So i would like to be able to provide that for people and their family bhemembers when theyre feeling their worse. Morgan and laura, thank you for all youre doing, at your own personal risk and sacrifice. I know that the doctors and nurses around you really appreciate you coming to their aid, so thanks so much for sharing their stories with us. Thank you. Thank you for having us. We want to remember some of the more than 286,000 americans lost to coronavirus. For the last 15 years, melvin falcone lopez was a bus inspector in northern new jersey. In his spare time, he played bass in a rock band, he djd events for family and friends, and most of all he cared for his elderly mother, he was 47 years old. Stacy blakley taught Elementary School in South Carolina for 28 years. Her family says she loved her students, the beach, and spending time with her two daughters. She was just 50 years old. Doug zbinski had been a junior firefighter as a taurneer and spent 20 years as an emt. A colleague called him a guy who did every task well and to the best of his ability. His wife said he loved taking her on adventures, including her passion, scuba diving. He was 53 years old. Well be right back. To support a strong immune system, your body needs routine. Centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc. Season, after season. Ace your immune support, with centrum. A livcustomizeper iquickbooks for me. Okay, youre all set up. Thanks that was my business gi, this ones casual. 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Rebecca jones was fired after accusing officials of trying to cover up the pandemic. Now shes the target of a hacking investigation. We will speak with her in just a moment. Cnns drew griffin joins us now with the details on what happened. Drew . John, democrats crying foul over this. Congressman Charlie Crist wants an investigation. Keep in mind, what youre about to sweee, whatever it is, start with an investigation into an inhouse state of florida messaging investigation. They have a gun out they have a gun out reporter they came with guns drawn, a camera in the hallway showing the moment Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers raided Rebecca Jones tallahassee home. Police come down, now search warrant reporter all of this over an unauthorized text message allegedly sent through an internal system at the Florida Department of health. He just pointed a gun at my children reporter the officers say jones refused to open the door for 20 minutes. She says she was getting dressed. They did not make an arrest, but seized computers and phones and thumb drives that jones says contained evidence of corruption at the state level. On my phone is every communication ive ever had with someone who works at the state, who has come to me in confidence and told me things that could get them fired. Reporter a search warrant affidavit obtained by cnn says that someone accessed the state Emergency Planning system and sent a group text to more than 1,700 recipients, urging state workers to speak out before its too late. The system uses an app called ready op and everyone in the Department Just uses the same user name and password. According to the warrant, investigators traced the ip address of the message to jones house. Did you send that text on that system . No. I havent had access to any systems at doh for over six months. Im not a hacker. Reporter jones claims the raid, the investigation, is nothing more than Governor Ron Desantis using police to shut her up. This is just a very thinly israe veiled attempt of the governor to intimidate scientists and get back at me. Reporter a spokesperson insists that the Governors Office had no involvement, no knowledge, no nothing of this investigation. Jones, who helped build floridas online coronavirus data dashboard, was fired in may, in what she argued was retaliation for her refusal to fudge the numbers and minimize the scale of the outbreak. State Officials Say she was fired back in may for insubordination and making changes to the states covid19 dashboard without input or approval. Governor ron desantis at the time said this. She was putting data on the portal, which the scientists didnt believe was valid data. Reporter jones filed a whistleblower complaint and launched her own onboard dashboard of florida coronavirus data, a website that she says was operated from one of the computers officers seized monday. Desantis needs to worry less about what im writing about and more about the people who are sick and dying in his state and doing this to me will not stop me from reporting the data. Ever. Florida just reached a grim milestone of more than a million total coronavirus cases, a far cry from the governors boasting back in may. Weve succeeded and i think that people just dont want to recognize it. Reporter desantis has been wildly criticized for his handling of the virus and downplaying of the numbers. He failed to hold a press conference for weeks, instead doing prerecorded videos that ignored the rising cases. He signed an order limiting enforcement of mask mandates across the state and opening bars and restaurants at 100 capacity. And just like President Trump, says anyone who criticizes him is playing politics. Obviously, they have an agenda, very partisan. I think it was an Election Year and i think the fact that florida was considered a key swing state had a lot to do with it. John, there is a new development this morning, both the Tampa Bay Times and the tallahassee democrat newspapers are reporting that the judge who signed that warrant is a very, very recent appointee, appointed by Governor Ron Desantis. John . Interesting. Drew griffin, thank you so much for that report. And joining us now, Rebecca Jones, former florida Data Scientist and vocal critic of the states pandemic response. Thanks so much for being with us. Look, the raid happened in your house on monday. What new have you heard from investigators or police since then . Nothing. Theres nothing to find, so theyre not going to tell me whats going on. Im not worried about them finding anything on my computer. When i found out about the judge being sworn in less than a month before he signed the warrant and it being one of the first things that he did on the bench appointed by governor desantis, it became very clear that despite all of his protesting that hes got his hands all over this. Desantis office claims that they had no knowledge of the raid and no involvement in it. How much faith do you put in that statement . None. They are the state police. They report directly to the governor. And as hes made it clear over the last six months, i have been a somewhat thorn in his side, because i have refused to stay quiet. And ive continued to report the numbers and theres no way they would go after somebody like me and not tell him about it. And that was actually relayed by one of the guests last night on chris cuomos show, as well. Youve said that you have concerns now, that many people, Florida State workers, have sent you information over the last several months that could be on the devices that were seized. What have you heard from people, those people who have sent you things over the last few days and whats your warning to them . So i have made it very clear and made it a point not to call those people one by one to let them know that this happened, because they might be waiting to see who i reach out to. And i want them to know, i made all of my best efforts to protect their information. Some of them have been brave enough to actually reach out to me since this happened and ask if im okay, and you know, provide any information that they can. And talk about heroes. Those are the real heroes, not me. Its never been me. Im a scientist just doing my job. So you deny that you sent this text message, which was the cause for the entire raid to begin with. How do you explain that investigators in this affidavit say that the message was sent from an ip address in your house . Well, the investigators told me, and if you read the affidavit, it clearly says that the department of health provided the ip address of where they said this text came from and then the police verified who that ip address belonged to. So the former employer that i filed a whistleblower complaint with and have been in legal battles with for the last succession months is the sole evidence right now that this mysterious text message came from me. So you think that they are spreading lies about you . Well, theyve been doing it for six months. Why stop now . Are you afraid you just suggested that you think youve been hesitant to call other florida workers, people youve been in contact with, because youre afraid that it might tip off authorities. Do you think youre being watched right now . Do you think youre being monitored . How afraid are you for your own safety . Ive been expecting to have the governor come after me ever since all this happened. When i opened that door, i was fully expecting to go to jail. I put my hands up. I thought, theyre going to take me outside, huff mandcuff me, te to jail. I didnt expect them to come inside my house, i didnt expect it to be a raid with a armed policemen and guns pointed at my kids. It was very terrifying for my family. And i always thought i would be more afraid to have a gun six inches from my face, but all of this has really done for me is made me more resolute in how important it is that people get information. All the silencing at doh up to the election, everything thats happened afterwards, things are worse right now in the country than theyve been at any other point. There are more than 300,000 confirmed covid cases in k12 schools in this country. It is more important now that i keep doing this. For my familys sake, were thinking about having them stay with family for a wihile. But for me, i have to keep doing this. This is just more proof that this is important. You talked about florida county health officials. The florida sunsentinel put out an investigative piece last week which said theyve been basically muzzled. Ordered not to talk about coronavirus about coronavirus i months leading up to election day. This is an effort you believe to silence you. You will not be silence. So what do you want to say . What is the message you think they are trying to keep you from saying out loud, please say it this morning. Information is the most powerful resource that we have on this planet as human beings and any attempt to stop that source out should never be tolerated. And the pandemic this morning in florida, please give us a sense of where it is. Not good. Its like everybody else, you know, we are seeing upward trends, especially in the under 18 age group, more than 25,000 school cases just in florida alone. Were nearing 20,000 official deaths right now and the cdc estimates somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 that arent reported because florida has never tracked or recorded probable cases and deaths. So were were in for a ride. Rebekah jones, we appreciate you being with us, sharing your story. Thanks for being here. Please keep us posted when you hear more from investigators. Will do. Thank you. Coming up in just minutes, health and Human Services secretary alex azar joins us. Also a new proposal from the white house threatens to derail relief for millions of struggling workers. The latest on the stimulus talks next. Tired of overpaying for your prescriptions . Try optum perks. Its a new way to save up to 80 . And everyone can do it. Its from optum, a Health Care Company thats trusted by millions of people. You dont have to sign up for anything. Just go to optumperks. Com. And get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. Thats it. I opted in. I opted in. You can, too. Opt in and save big today. The only thing a disaster cant destroy is hope. Donate now at redcross. Org we started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. So you only pay for what you use. Because at dell technologies, we stop. At nothing. Time for cnn business now. A new offer from the white house has thrown stimulus talks into turmoil. Cnns alison kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange with details. What do we know . There is new hope once again that washington will agree on more government stimulus before the holidays but the latest plan may actually wind up going nowhere. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin did offer up a 916 billion proposal to House Speaker nancy pelosi. This is the first move by the Trump Administration since election day to end this stimulus standoff and it includes a 600 onetime stimulus check. Here is the catch with it, though, it would not include a 300 enhanced unemployment payment where the beneficiary would get those extra 300 every week and democrats say that is a nonstarter. Another curveball in a tweet mnuchin says the deal also includes Liability Protections and funding for state and local governments but Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell had already proposed dropping those two sticking points in an effort to create an opening that both sides can agree on. Now, a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers they worked last night on a potential deal, they are expected to release a summary today of where things stand. So we shall see. Investors on wall street are keeping an eye on what happens with this. Stock futures right now are pointing to a mixed open after we saw the s p 500 and the nasdaq close at fresh record highs, john, incredible when you think about how much americans are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table, with err seeing fresh record highs in these indices. It is that disconnect between wall street and main street. Alison kosik at the stock exchange, we will wait and see what happens with the stimulus today. Millions of americans counting on it. Thank you so much. Sure. New day continues right now. Reporter this is new day with Alisyn Camerota and john berman. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is new day. What we do now will be a matter of life and death. Thats the warning from the governor of Washington State as more states tighten restrictions ahead of the holidays with the pandemic raging out of control. The u. S. Is now averaging averaging more than 200,000 new cases a day. This is the first time thats happened. There was a big jump in hospitalizations overnight, more than 2,000 new ones recorded, now we have 105,000 people hospitalized in the United States and more than 2,500 new deaths recorded overnight. This week marks the anniversary of pearl harbor, thats more than died in the attack on pearl harbor and we are now seeing that every single day. Tomorrow the fda considers the approval of pfizers Coronavirus Vaccine and breaking this morning, regulators in the uk are warning people with a, quote, significant history of allergic reactions to food and medicines not to get the new Pfizer Vaccine after two Health Care Workers there suffered allergic reactions to the shot. We will find out what exactly that means. Joining us now is health and Human Services secretary alex azar. Good morning, mr. Secretary. Good morning. Good to be with you. Good to be with you as well. Does that breaking news out of the uk of two people, Health Care Workers out of tens of thousands who got the shot of them having allergic reactions to the vaccine, apparently they also helpy pens with them so i suppose they were used to having allergic reactions to things. Does that change, do you think, anything here including the fda approval thats expected tomorrow . So learning of this just with you right now and so i want to make sure the fda has an opportunity to look at that data, im sure that they will be speaking with the uk regulators as we always do, you know, fda is going to not cut any corners. Theyre looking at the data, they are looking under the hood at everything so im sure that will be something that the fda looks at here because we want to make sure any vaccine that comes out in america has the full Gold Standard stamp of the fda career people. If all goes well and if the fda does approve this for emergency authorization tomorrow, what happens next . Can you just help us understand which americans will be vaccinated first, how many people can be vaccinated in december, this month, and where will they go to get vaccinated . So we have the pfizer Advisory Committee tomorrow, a completely public process, and then if everything is on track it could be a matter of days, then fda approves the vaccine. We would then authorize shipment within 24 hours, it would literally go this Pfizer Vaccine theyre shipping directly would go by fedex and ups to wherever the governors he will us where to go. Some governors are leveraging the system we set up, cvs and wall greebs especially for the Nursing Homes. The initial focus will be Health Care Workers and nursing home patients. Cvs and walgreens will do almost 100 of the Nursing Homes in america, thats a turnkey operation, but they will also be shipping to hospitals where they will do mass vaccination campaigns of their Health Care Workers. 20 Million People should get