tv At This Hour With Kate Bolduan CNN February 11, 2022 8:00am-9:00am PST
8:00 am
hello, everyone. i'm kate bolduan. here's what we're watching at this hour. the freedom convoy turned into an international crisis. officials on both sides of the border scrambling now to put a safe end to the protest. allies meet. biden on the phone this hour with key allies as secretary of state warns a russian invasion of ukraine could begin at any time. tragic accident. new report on bob saget's death and the final conclusion from the sheriff investigating. we begin with a protest in canada having a real and serious
8:01 am
impact here in the united states. three major border crossings between the u.s. and canada remain shut down as the demonstrations over covid restrictions stretch into a third weekend. patience now with the protesters seems to be wearing thin. ottawa police arrested more than two dozen people and issued over 1500 tickets. in windsor, canada, just across the border from detroit, officials are trying to get a court order allowing them to clear out the demonstrators and their vehicles. windsor's mayor told us yesterday that police may need to physically remove protesters. all of this is having real impact on the u.s. auto industry and on trade. cnn's miguel marquez starts us off live near the ambassador bridge. the premier of ontario made a big move and statement. what did he announce? >> reporter: the provincial governor of the ontario province saying there's a state of emergency to convene his cabinet
8:02 am
which would allow him to put in orders that this illegal, he will say this is an illegal gathering and that it is punishable and it will give them the authority, essentially, to use resources they've already brought into ottawa to move this out if protesters won't leave. if big group of people you're saying, this space completely filled with cars, protesters a short time ago opened that lane. a block long before the bridge. and they opened that lane saying it's a sign of good faith. other protesters didn't think that was the right move for them to make, and some try to move cars back into it and then they eventually relented because they don't want to be seen as negotiating with police. they have been talking with authorities here, almost this entire time trying to keep at least one lane open for emergency vehicles. so that is somewhat significant here on the ground but it's not going to be enough. the mayor here in windsor saying that at noon, they're going to
8:03 am
seek the legal justification, essentially, to move this out as well. they have lots of resources here. the federal government also putting resources in other places where they have protests. so seemingly, once they start to move, they're going to try to sort of roll up these protests all at the same time. >> and that provincial governor i'm hearing is threatening fines of $100,000, even a year in prison if people don't start moving out if they don't declare a state of emergency. much more to come, clearly. >> u.s. auto industry bracing right now for continued and more disruption because at gm, toyota and other auto makers cutting back production. analysts say auto workers in michigan could lose up to $51 million in wages this week due to the protests. cnn's matt egan is tracking this one for us. matt, what are you seeing here? >> kate, this is the last thing the u.s. economy needs. historic inflation and a shortage of cars and now these protests are causing some auto
8:04 am
companies to slow or even shut down production in some of the factories they own. we know that ford, gm, honda, and that owns chrysler had the production impacted and we just learned this morning that toyota is slowing production at factories in west virginia and alabama. hundreds of miles away from this bridge in ontario. and all connected the north america economy is, especially when it comes to autos. it's not just the canadian auto industry or u.s. auto industry. they're really all joined at the hip. we also have to keep in mind that people are already dealing with sticker shock when it comes to cars. we learned just yesterday that new car and truck prices up by 12% in january from the year before, that is an all-time high. there's not enough new cars due to the shortage of computer chips, used car prices up by more than 40%. it's hard to see how these production impacts driven by the
8:05 am
protests are going to help that situation. the key is going to be, how long does it last? does it get resolved this weekend and linger for weeks? also, which vehicles, which brands are actually going to be impacted? that's going to be key here. but kate, clearly, this is just one more challenge for an economy dealing with high inflation and shortages. >> the ripple effect is real and pretty immediate. thank you for that. as matt is saying, these protests are adding to the challenges in front of president biden and a new cnn poll shows americans are rapidly losing confidence in the president's handling of this economy right now. just 18% of those who were surveyed said they have a lot of confidence in biden's ability to deal with the economy. half of respondents saying they have no confidence. in a new interview, president biden is speaking to this mood and also acknowledging the pain americans are feeling from inflation which, as we know, just hit a 40 year high. listen. >> i think it was back in july,
8:06 am
you said inflation was going to be temporary. i think a lot of americans wondering what your definition of temporary is. >> you're being a wise guy a little bit. i understand that's your job. >> when can americans expect relief? >> according to 14 of them to me and start to taper off as we go through this year and in the meantime, i'm going to do everything in my power to deal with the big points that are impacting most people in their homes. >> joining me right now, cnn white house correspondent john harwood and chief political analyst gloria borger. you know, i asked something similar to what lester holt to biden of the top economic advisers and jared bernstein yesterday and had no problem answering the question. but the president's response, i don't get it, do you? >> reporter: i actually do, kate.
8:07 am
look. first of all, lester holt is not a wise guy. terrific journalist. nothing wrong with the question. certainly, president biden's political advisers do not like it when he expresses annoyance in public. stipulate all that. but the reason that he was annoyed is that there's a lot wrong with the inflation conversation that we're having right thonow. first of all, a lot of inflation we're dealing with is transitory. the fact is, how long does the pandemic last? that's what transitory means. it's about disruptions related to the shutdown of the economy and the restart of the economy after the pandemic. second of all, a lot of the discussion of inflation concerns or includes the assumption that it's president biden's problem to solve. it is likely true that the american rescue plan he passed last year was too big and contributed to this inflation. we don't know how much but in terms of the problem right now,
8:08 am
principally a problem for the federal reserve to solve, not the president and the final reason is that a lot of the inflation discussion obscures the fact that there are very many good things about this economy. unemployment at 4%. everybody who wants a job can get a job. people at the bottom of the income spectrum are seeing their wages rise faster than inflation. that reduces income inequality because there's tremendous demand for labor and people at the top are seeing asset prices like home prices rise. so there's a lot of americans doing very well in the economy, that sometimes gets obscured in the discussion we're having about inflation. >> but again, we've been talking about the trends that are confusing. the economic data coming in is in contrast to each other and that's part of the discussion. i think that's what lester was trying to get at with the president but gloria, as john perfectly lays out, you cannot talk about the economy without talking about the pandemic. his approval has dipped there. down 9 points since december and fewer people are saying they have a lot of confidence that he
8:09 am
can lead the country out of the pandemic. what does that say to you? >> look, his handling of the pandemic was his calling card and it was very important to getting him elected because he promised that he would bring the country back to a sense of normalcy and what you see in those numbers are people saying, we haven't done that. you haven't done that. what his wife has confronted is the head winds expected that came with the delta variant over the summer and then with omicron more recently. and, you know, when you take that as a whole, the public expected a certain amount of competence from joe biden and whether right or wrong, they say you haven't fixed the problem that you came here to fix. when you talk to people in the white house, they will tell you, number one, they couldn't have predicted delta and number two, they did not predict how many people would be anti-vaxx, but the president, you look at him
8:10 am
and say you promised, you didn't do it, you didn't fix it, so it really is, it dampens democratic enthusiasm in going out for the polls in the fall and we also see that in our polls that republicans are much more enthusiastic about going out and voting than democrats, i think, by 8 points. so all put together, it's not a really good picture for joe biden right now. >> there's the number i mentioned at the top, a few people, john, 18% saying they have a lot of confidence in biden's ability to deal with the economy. but i have to say, and i know we often talk about this, there's still a lot of time left between now and the midterms. time for a lot of things to change. external events to quickly shift the country's fox cus and priorities. are republicans wrong then to read good news in the numbers that we see in this survey? >> no, i don't think they're wrong at all.
8:11 am
i think there's very good news for republicans in this survey. it's a very bad, as gloria laid out, a bad political environment for democrats and as we look ahead now, it seems very likely that republicans are going to hammer democrats in this fall's election, retake, certainly, the house of representatives, perhaps even the senate. is it possible things could change? yes. if you see, in fact, we make a transition from the emergency phase of the pandemic to the endemic phase that president biden feels kfblcomfortable com out in the state of the union address to say, take the masks off, get back to normal, it might have an effect on the public mood. if moderation through the year which most economists expect to happen, that may have an effect on the public mood but he's been well under 50% for quite a long to time. opinion changes slowly. i would think that republicans, the odds are that republicans are going to be quite right in
8:12 am
their current level of optimism. >> great to see you guys, thank you for being here. coming up for us, president biden is speaking right now with european and nato leaders as fears grow of what putin's next move will be on ukraine. the latest development. that's next. we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be remade. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle and reduces plastic waste.
8:13 am
please help us get every bottle back. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching... the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks.
8:14 am
tremfya® is the only medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. with unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans... ...you can take advantage of $0 virtual visits. - wow. - uh-huh. $0 copays on virtual visits for primary care and mental health. take advantage now. wow! i recommend nature made vitamins, because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp, an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. we just moved. so there's millions of - dahlias in bloom. over nine acres. when we started, we grew a quarter of an acre.
8:15 am
now i'm taking on new projects on the regular. there are millions of ways to make the most of your land. learn more at deere.com (vo) when you are shopping for a new vehicle, how do you know which brand you can trust? with subaru, you get kelley blue book's most trusted brand winner, seven years in a row. in fact, subaru has won most trusted brand for more consecutive years than any other brand. no wonder kelley blue book also picked subaru as their best overall brand. once again. it's easy to love a brand you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru.
8:16 am
president biden on a call right now with leaders from europe and nato to discuss the ongoing russian military build-up near ukraine. nato secretary general warning this is a, quote, dangerous moment. and secretary of state tony blinken adding to the urgency saying the russian invasion could begin at any time. let's get over to moscow. cnn's nic robertson is standing by. what's the latest there?
8:17 am
>> reporter: yeah, latest secretary general in romania where u.s. troop presence ramped up because russia continues to put troops around ukraine at the moment. this, inevitably, is heemeaning it's harder for nato to respond because the build-up means nato's response time gets shorter and president biden speaking essentially to this point, having a warning for u.s. citizens in ukraine. >> american citizens should leave, should leave now. we're dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. this is a very different situation and things could go crazy quickly. >> reporter: so a track of diplomacy under way at moscow today. british defense secretary ben wallace meeting and atmospherics when they sat across from each other in the chamber of the meeting looked quite frosty, showing there are tensions in
8:18 am
europe, it's not russia's fault and that it is nato's fault for getting so many weapons to the ukrainians. ben wallace, at a press conference going on just a few minutes ago was asked this question. sergey told you that russia has no intention of invading. do you believe him? and the british defense secretary said, look, i take his word but look at what's happening on the ground. 130,000 troops. he said this is not a normal posture for military training. his concern that, really, the window is shutting down for diplomacy and the frostiness in the room between defense secretaries today gave you all you needed to know about that. >> nic, thank you so much for that. joining me, adam smith, the chairman of the house armed services committee. thank you for being here. one thing we're also seeing, russian troops continue to build up on the border. we're also seeing, as the nato
8:19 am
secretary general has discussed, more troops heading over, u.s. troops and others, heading over to eastern europe to support nato allies and the secretary j general has kind of previewed this. let me play what he said. >> if russia wants less nato in eastern part, the aggressive actions are leading to the exact opposite, more nato. >> i expect we'll hear more of that to come. what do you think of that message? >> i think that's one of our strongest messages possible because that is putin's number one goal. he want greater control of eastern europe, he wants greater control of what was the former soviet yunion and the eastern bloc. number one at the top of that is to push the west out and nato out. and so to the extent we show these actions have the opposite effect, it can be deterrent and then also, the countries, the other countries in eastern europe isn't just about ukraine
8:20 am
for them and romania and poland and the baltics, they're afraid russia will take one step at a time and try to do to them next what they do with ukraine now and they desperately want our support. democracies aligned with us, we should help them because they want that help to maintain freedom and sovereignty and discourage putin. i think it's one of our strongest arguments right now. >> the president is holding calls right now with nato allies as we speak. is there something specific you'd like to hear be the message coming out at this point? >> the more unity, the better. we are stronger in our numbers. there are 30 nato countries and the more of those countries that are on the same page, the argument we just made, the secretary general was making about a greater presence in eastern europe. the agreement to send more articles to ukraine, the agreement on sanctions, the more unified we look, the better.
8:21 am
because as i said, at the top of putin's list, he wants to divide us. and that's difficult. 30 countries have different interests. germany and france do but to the extent we can pull together and talk about the things we agree on, shows putin's actions are unifying us, not dividing us. >> what is your current and latest assessment of how close putin is to invading? >> i think the thing about that is, he's as close as he was a month ago, and a number of people have said this clearly, you don't know. he is in a position to do this very quickly. that doesn't make it any more likely now that he's going to do than it was a month ago, but it means that there's no margin for error. it's not like we're going to have a week or two to see, oh, he's building up, going to react. he's ready to go, when he decides to go and that's what makes this situation so dangerous. >> as we just reported, the
8:22 am
president was asked about americans in ukraine and he told them very clearly to leave. he said that, quote, things could go crazy quickly. do you share that urgency and concern? >> absolutely. and it's interesting. the ukrainian people and their leaders are now starting to sound the alarm more than they were even a week or two ago. i think early on, president zelensky, it makes sense, you don't want to alarm people and crash the stock market and the economy and create all these problems, but as the threat continues, it's become more and more obvious how, sorry, i was going to say imminent, as i understand it, there's not a proper translation. >> that's now a hot button word. >> exactly. but how it could happen, it could happen at a moment's notice and, you know, we certainly don't want a situation where you have a lot of american civilians in ukraine desperate
8:23 am
to get out because it's difficult at that time for us to be able to go in there and get them out. >> that's the question. the president was asked about that. if u.s. troops, he sees the scenario of u.s. troops going in to rescue americans in ukraine but said there's no scenario because that's a world war, you agree? >> we can say all we want we're just sending the troops in to pull out americans but don't send u.s. troops, if they're attacked when they're in there, they're going to fight back and that's the other thing we need to keep in mind with people. we are not going to go to war with russia over ukraine. the cost is too high. what we want to do is we want to work diplomatically with our allies to stop that from happening in the first place. >> chairman, thank you for coming on. >> thanks, kate, i appreciate the chance. >> thank you. coming up for us, the sheriff investigating the death of comedian bob saget saying the case is closed. what the autopsy report reveals about his tragic death.
8:24 am
i'm going to put this baby intnto warp speed. buckle up. everybody hang on! and enjoy the ride. wooo. yes! in the all-new lexus nx. this is a whole other level of insane. see moonfall, in theaters february 4th. and experience amazing. ♪ ♪ my daughter has type 2 diabetes and lately i've seen this change in her. once-weekly trulicity is proven to help lower a1c. it lows blood sugar from the first dose. and you could lose up . trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. it's not approved for use in children. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea,
8:25 am
which can lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. why do dermatologists use dove bar at home? the dove beauty bar is gentle... it is moisturising. i bring the dove beauty bar home because it not only cleans, it hydrates my skin. i see what it does for my patients and it's exactly what i want to do for my family. as a dermatologist i want what's best for our skin. who doesn't want soft, clean, fresh smelling skin. with 1/4 moisturizing cream dove is the number one bar dermatologists use at home. [ chantell ] when my teeth started to deteriorate, i stopped hanging out socially. it was a easy decision -- clearchoice. [ awada ] the health of our teeth plays a significant role in our overall health. chantell was suffering, and we had to put an end to that. the absolute best way to do that was through dental implants. [ chantell ] clearchoice dental implants changed everything. my digestive health is much better now. i feel more energetic.
8:26 am
the person that i've always been has shown up to the party again. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
8:27 am
8:28 am
8:29 am
after an autopsy concluded that saget's death was an accident. the orange county medical examiner said saget died from an accidental blow to the back of his head likely from a fall. saget found unresponsive in a florida hotel room on january 9th and reveals that saget had covid at the time of his death. joining me now is cnn medical analyst e.r. physician and casey jordan. doctor, an e.r. physician, i'm sure head trauma is something you oh so often see come through the door. based on this autopsy report, how serious would a blow to the head have been needed to get what they're showing and reported in this? >> kate, this is so tragic, but it's also unfortunately very common. there are tens of thousands of americans every year who die as a result of traumatic brain injury and much of that is because of falls. in this case, it does look like
8:30 am
there had to be substantial impact. a lot of times, we think about substantial impact of falling down stairs or a car accident, but you could also have substantial impact just from falling from standing, especially if you hit your head on something hard like the floor or the bathtub or edge of a cabinet. in this case, it looks like mr. saget had two different types of brain bleeds, a subdural and hemorrhage. you get pooling of blood in the brain and skull doesn't have space, so if you have a lot of blood, the brain ends up getting compressed and that's why somebody ends up losing consciousness or unfortunately, dying. i think this should be a call for action to be on the lookout. if you have any concerns after a head injury, seek help immediately, especially if you're older, on blood thinners and also if you have any symptoms like blurry vision, confusion, headache, any
8:31 am
stroke-like symptoms, for example, weakness or numbness one side of your body. be on the safe side, seek help and tell somebody in your family or a friend to check on you too. >> i heard one doctor describing at least one of the injuries as a, i might be saying that, a skull fracture, but when that happens, what does it do to the body? is it immediate or, as you said, you need to tell people that this is happened so they can check on you? sometimes, the impact and the danger and the emergency is quite delayed. >> that's right. so the injury would occur immediately, but what happens is that when you have a skull fracture or impact to the head, it causes a disruption to the blood vessels. so there is bleeding, but the bleeding can accumulate over time and then that pressure inside the brain builds to the point that somebody ends up losing consciousness and then
8:32 am
dying. so that period takes time. sometimes, it could be very fast, but it could also occur over the course of hours or days, sometimes we see patients who fell days ago and now they're having really substantial symptoms. that said, that's the reason why it's so important to seek medical care because you don't know how quickly your symptoms may be developing. >> good point. the sheriff spoke to cnn's john berman today and laid out how they came to their conclusion. let me play what he said. >> we were able to track his movements from his previous show to the hotel. he actually took a photo with someone that night before he died right outside the hotel. went up to his room, locked himself in there. the hotel actually had to remove some of the locks manually to get into the hotel room. the room was clean, no signs of
8:33 am
a struggle, and so we believe the death was accidental. >> casey, walk us through what investigators would have to see, what they'd be looking at to declare the death accidental. >> well, sure. and understand that the cause of death was blunt head trauma but the manner of death is what they have to determine. was it natural? accidental? suicide, homicide, or could it just be undetermined? and in this case, they decided it was accidental because of the circumstances. no sign of a struggle, no sign of a forced entry, no drugs in his system other than prescription drugs he was already taking. not even any alcohol in his system, so no signs of suicide. but when we hear blund t head trauma, we automatically think homicide and the case of 20 years ago of a woman named kathleen peterson who allegedly fell down her stairs but later her husband was convicted of bludgeoning her head and served time for that but this turns out
8:34 am
to be something based on all of the circumstances that looks like an accident, possibly a fall to the bathtub or something like that and the actress natasha richardson, about 23 years ago was skiing with a very soft fall in the snow, got up, shook it up and went back and then later died. nobody thought anything of it. everything lena says is absolutely true. no sign of any foul play. no sign of suicide, drug overdose. he did have an enlarged heart that may have complicated things, probably hit his head, went to bed to sleep it off and never woke up. >> thank you, casey and dr. wen, thank you so much. thousands of municipal city workers, get vaccinated or get fired. a live report next. big boi house. big boi kitchen! big boi i waterfall shower! big boi crawl space. big boi sold sign, big boi logo. realaltor.com to each their home.
8:35 am
8:36 am
for adults with a bmi of 25-40 when combined with diet and exercise. plenity is not a drug - it's made from naturally derived building blocks and helps you feel fuller and eat less. it is a prescription only treatment and is not for pregnant women or people allergic to its ingredients. talk to your doctor or visit myplenity.com to learn more. throughout history i've observed markets shaped by the intentional and unforeseeable. for investors who can navigate this landscape, leveraging gold, a strategic and sustainable asset... the path is gilded with the potential for rich returns.
8:37 am
is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the first approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options.
8:38 am
what can i du with less asthma? with dupixent i can du more... yardwork... teamwork... long walks.... that's how you du more, with dupixent, which helps prevent asthma attacks. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection, and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma? just ask your asthma specialist about dupixent.
8:39 am
do your eyes bother you? my eyes feel like a combo of stressed, dry and sandpaper. strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! turn now to the pandemic. deadline for thousands of unvaccinated city employees in new york. those who haven't gotten the shot yet have until the end of the day to get one or else. cnn's athena jones live in new york to track all of this for us. what's going to happen today?
8:40 am
>> kate, we are going to wait and see what happens. this is a mandate announced by mayor bill de blasio and then saying our public employees will lead us out of the covid era. mayor eric is enforcing this role and say, i want these city workers to continue to be employed in my administration but they have to follow the city's vaccine guidance. said we are not firing them, people are quitting. if you're not following the rules, you are making that decision. so the vast majority of this city's municipal workforce, more than 370,000 people have gotten vaccinated as required. we're looking at an estimated 3,000 or so workers who may lose their jobs if they can't prove they're vaccinated today so we have to wait and see. city officials think the number could be lower because people are rushing at the last minute to get vaccinated. but certainly, with mandates lifted, a lot of folks are saying vaccine mandates are important to get to the point to
8:41 am
lift other mandates. >> great to see you, athena. he also advised former new york city mayor bill de blasio on the pandemic. deadline day for 3,000 city workers to get vaccinated or lose jobs. they've already been on unpaid leave for months. it's less than 1% of the city's workforce to be sure. what do you think about this moment? >> i think one of the most important interventions that new york city made during the pandemic was setting a standard that if you're going to be a worker in this city, you need to be vaccinated. it's a way to protect yourself, it's a way to protect your coworkers and the clients that come seeking services from you, and it's a way to keep us all safe, so it's really unfortunate, obviously, that people have chosen not to get vaccinated, but we have to remember, this is really just a tiny fraction of all the people in the city who have stood up
8:42 am
and said, getting vaccinated is something i do for myself and it's something i do for everybody else. >> so there's vaccines and now the conversation has shifted to mask requirements and mask, indoor mask requirements. only eight states still require masks indoors and five of those have announced an end date to it and there's a big question, this gets to the big question and debate among public health officials over whether it is too soon or is it the right time, which is exactly what you write about in a new "new york times" op-ed. you wrote up just for context, you wrote up de blasio's first covid strategy document and this mask mandate, indoor mask mandate was part of it but now you say this. i'm just as perplexed now as i was almost two years ago about the best metrics to use to monitor the pandemic and how to use them to trigger actions that slow the spread. why? >> you know, this virus keeps
8:43 am
changing. our tools of how we diagnose it and how we monitor it keep changing and, you know, the main reason i wanted to write that opinion piece was there's been a lot of discussion, particularly coming from academic circles but even from policy circles about people saying, why can't we have a simple number like the temperature or how much rain there's going to be today to decide whether to do things, and i really wanted to make the point and unfortunately, our answer is not going to come from just from statistics. the data is important. we need to know, are more cases rising, is it threatening our health care system but fundamentally, this is about a social and political decision. how much risk do we tolerate? and how much are we responsible for our own risk and how much are we responsible for our neighbor's risk? >> it's a bigger question, but still, no matter how hard it is, people do need guidance and politicians need to make decisions. with the hindsight you have and the questions that you've been kind of contemplating, what should the guidance be on masks
8:44 am
now? >> at this very moment, i think all of us in public health feel pretty strongly that we understand the importance of removing these restrictions. we would like to wait a little bit longer and that's because so many of us are choes closely cod to working with people in the hospitals and they're worried about energy and resilience but this is a decision for e lelect officials and the decision to remove this, this is right but i would like to see it easier for individuals to protect themselves. what does that mean? high quality mask like the n95 mask as widely available as toilet paper and soap and water are in basic facility. that's a basic hygiene measure, individual tool to protect themselves and same is true for testing because we know diagnostic tests are cheap to make. let's make them available everywhere. if we're going to shift to people taking individual responsibility, let's, as a society, make sure those tools
8:45 am
are available so we don't need a mandate but we give people the tools they can use themselves. >> i actually really appreciate kind of the shift in perspective of, right, rather than imposing, give people the tools to protect themselves rather than making it required, certain requirements to people. i think that, at least, feels like a path towards manageable. >> well, i think it is and i think what's concerning to many of us in public health though is that you're not seeing that sustained commitment. what you have often seen and we saw this with the response to delta and omicron, they're like, the vaccines are working, so we don't need to invest in testing anymore. it's the wrong time to do it. the best time to be prepared for a storm is when it's sunny outside, right? you don't buy your umbrella in the middle of the storm. you buy it ahead of time. let's do that, buy the umbrellas, masks and tests because we though the virus isn't done with us but we need to give people tools. can't just say, we're done and hope it will be done. >> dr. varma, thank you for
8:46 am
8:49 am
8:50 am
i d d so my y quesonons eouout hicacase.y y son, ♪ call one eight hundred, cacalledhehe bars s fillion ♪ i d d soit was the best call eouout hii could've made. call the barnes firm and find out what your case all could be worth.uld've made. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ now let's turn to the scandal that's gripping the winter olympic games. russian skating sensation kamila valiyeva will soon learn whether she can compete next week with a hearing in the coming days. this comes after she tested positive for a banned drug. valiyeva is slated to compete in the woman's short program on
8:51 am
tuesday. and we also still don't know if the russian team will be awarded the gold medal that's also gotten caught up in all of this. let's get the very latest from the person who has been breaking all the news on this. cnn's sports analyst christine brennan, a sports columnist for "usa today" live in beijing. christine, where do you -- what is happening in this moment? where do things stand? >> kate, i think the most significant development over the last, say, 24 hours, since we last spoke is that the international olympic committee has been heard from. after heming and hawing and saying they can't talk and it's a legal issue and we've got to see what happens, they are now actually part of this appeal that is appealing the russian decision to allow valiyeva to continue to practice. so the russians said it's okay she was banned. then said, no, you're not banned and now the ioc is saying we want to appeal that, which means, translated it means the
8:52 am
ioc does not want her to compete. the ioc is concerned about doping and it says they don't want her to be able to participate. then that would potentially lead to the gold medal being awarded to the united states, presuming everything moves forward. so i think that's the biggest news. and it's not necessarily surprising because, of course, the ioc is all about anti--doping. is all about not wanting people to cheat. even though she's 15 and there's a lot of sympathy for her and it clearly looks like her team and the adults around her, the coaches are the ones we should be looking at, you've got to have her not be skating. she cannot -- she cannot be participating if you want to have clean sport and if you want to have these games not be tainted by this story. >> i have to ask you, with this whole thing, it feels like drug testing protocols, especially when it comes to the olympics, should be clear cut. like test result is x and so that triggers this consequence. why isn't this clear cut or at least it doesn't feel that way
8:53 am
at all? so much confusion and lack of transparency, at least it feels that way. why is this? >> right. because she takes the test on christmas day, december 25th and it's not until february 8th, the result is given. that's unheard of. what happened in those five, six weeks that leads to so many questions. and, obviously, because russia is already on probation, of course it leads anyone who is looking at this to question everything. it is confusing, but the bottom line is that that result should have been known sooner. did the russians know? did they keep it a secret? did they want obviously to have valiyeva compete and so we didn't know. was the test lost? so many questions. but the issue there is it was before the olympics. that said, because she's tested positive, you -- even if she's had negative tests now, that
8:54 am
doesn't change the fact it was a positive drug test, less than two months before the olympic games. to me, it's a closed case. that's doping of the highest order and this is also, of course, a drug that's performance enhancing. this is a drug that could make her compete better. have better endurance and less fatigue. and that's the classic definition of performance-enhancing. >> and that is a great point. we know -- has anyone talked to her or heard from her directly on what she says about this? i mean, this gets more complicated. she's a minor, only 15 years old. i'm just curious. >> yeah, she's -- the only time we've seen her is in the mix zone where we do the interviews, where journalists can be. the athletes walk through. it's like a maze. they come along and talk to us. nathan chen did yesterday. that's where we see all the athletes. and she has basically said, not talking. obviously, english to russian is difficult anyway, and so we've
8:55 am
heard not a word. and we may not hear another word from her. but of course, the russians are saying nothing wrong here. nothing to see. we earned the medals honestly. of course they are. that's what they will say. the question is who -- what's going to be said by the court of arbitration for sport? that's kind of the supreme court for the olympic games, kate, and that's where this is now. and they are here on site at every olympics. this is their job to try to adjudicate some of these issues, and that's what they'll have to do. it has to be done quickly because the women's short program is tuesday night. basically saturday, sunday, monday to make this decision. >> all right. stay close. it's good to see you, christine. thank you so much. thank you all for being here with us at this hour. i'm kate bolduan. "inside politics" with john king starts after this break.
8:57 am
there can be some not-so-pretty stuff going on inside. it's true, if you have diabetes, you know high blood sugar is the root of the problem. but that excess sugar can cause the blood vessels to be seriously damaged. and when that happens, this could happen: vision loss or even blindness. that's right, diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness for adults in the u.s. but even though you can't see it, there is something you can do about it. remember this: now is the time to get your eyes checked. eye care is an incredibly important part of your long-term diabetes management. see a path forward with actions and treatments a retina specialist can provide that may help your eyes and protect against vision loss. just say to yourself, “now eye see.” then—go see an eye care specialist. visit noweyesee.com to get the facts about diabetes, your eyes, and what you can do next— to take charge of your sight. brought to you by regeneron.
9:00 am
hello and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. last hour president biden convened a call with key allies. he cautions things could go crazy quickly in ukraine. the secretary of state says russia could invade at any time. plus, a big week of covid change for millions of americans. mask mandates will soon end and even as the president says it's probably too soon. a new reporting on the democrats' next move. there is consensus the build back better plan is dead. now th
227 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on
