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CNN NEWSROOM

At Least 20 Unaccounted for after Japan Mudslide; New Challenges for Surfside Search and Rescue; War in Afghanistan; Immune Response to Combined Vaccines "Clearly Superior"; Health Officials Warn of COVID-19 Surge after July 4th Travel. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired July 3, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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


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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news in Japan. More than a dozen people are missing after a mudslide. Plus --

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MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA (D-FL), MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: There are definitely ways that we could demolish the building that will make sure to allow the search to continue. But again, this is going to take weeks.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): New worries about the safety of the site where a condo building collapsed in Florida.

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BRUNHUBER: And U.S. holiday weekend travel as the COVID Delta variant spreads.

Live from CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

BRUNHUBER: We begin with breaking news right now from Japan, where authorities say at least 20 people are unaccounted for after a mudslide swept into the city of Atami southwest of Tokyo. Let's bring in Selina Wang live from Tokyo.

Selina, what's the latest?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, exactly. We've learned that at least 20 people are missing as a mudslide hit this morning at 10:30, according to NHK. Search and rescue is underway conducted by firefighters and the prefectural government has also asked for additional support from the self-defense forces.

No deaths have been reported yet. They have been searching for hours. And the video there, Kim, is absolutely devastating. You can see the mudslide engulfing homes, infrastructure, debris knocking down everything in its path.

The residents there are shocked. They are concerned. Atami city is 67 miles southwest of Tokyo. The area that was hit by the mudslide includes hot springs, shopping streets and residential homes. As of 2:00 pm local time we've learned that more than 2,800 homes have lost power.

We know an evacuation order has been issued in a wide area, where the area was hardest hit as well as in areas surrounding Tokyo, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: It's shocking to see that video. In one of the frames, somebody was running for their lives. I remember a couple of years ago, hundreds of people died in flooding and landslides. Japan obviously has a long history of dealing with these types of problems.

Will that help in the response here?

WANG: Well, Kim, exactly. In 2018, more than 200 people died in catastrophic floods. Japan is used to the annual rainy season, which we are currently in. That comes with floods and landslides. There are disaster prevention drills that are held regularly across Japan.

And right now the entire Pacific Coast region has been hammered by torrential rain, which is what triggered the mudslide. The prime minister is concerned and has set up a task force to evaluate the damage.

According to national broadcaster NHK, weather officials are warning that there is much more and perhaps worse to come as they are expecting more rain now, still a devastating impact, even though this is a country that is used to this.

According to a government report, in 2020 they found that annually, on average, Japan is hit by nearly 1.5 -- 1,500 landslides per year over the past decade. That marks a significant increase from the 10 years before that. According to this government report, it's because of global warming -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, not the first time we hear these devastating effects of global warming. Selina Wang in Tokyo, we'll come back to you as developments warrant. Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it.

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BRUNHUBER: We have new information on the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. An emergency order was issued Friday to tear down the remaining structure. Officials say the damaged building is unstable and poses a danger to search and rescue crews below. Demolition is expected in the coming weeks.

Two more victims have been recovered from the rubble bringing the confirmed death toll 22. Now there are concerns about bad weather on the horizon. We get the latest from CNN's Brian Todd in Surfside.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Miami-Dade County mayor announced she signed an emergency order authorizing demolition of the building.

MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA (D-FL), MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: This was not a decision we made lightly and I know especially how difficult this is for the families who escaped the building and who have lost their homes and their belongings.

The building poses a threat to public health and safety and bringing it down as quickly as possible is critical to protect our community.

TODD (voice-over): While the timeline has not been set yet, two more victims were recovered and Thursday night, a heartbreaking discovery, the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami City firefighter found in the rubble. The father was not part of that rescue but he was called over by his fellow rescuers when his daughter's remains were found.

CAVA: Every night since this last Wednesday has been immensely difficult for everybody and particularly the families that have been impacted. But last night was uniquely different. It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders.

TODD (voice-over): New information showing the Champlain South condo board knew of severe concrete deterioration months before the collapse. In an October 2020 letter, an engineering firm hired by the building highlighted the pool structure as a problem area.

They stated, "Full restoration repair work could not be performed in part because it could destabilize the surrounding concrete and because the pool was to remain in service."

Meanwhile, the very similar high-rise on the next block is getting further inspection.

MAYOR CHARLES BURKETT (I-FL), SURFSIDE: Our building official, in conjunction with our experts, are now getting ready to X-ray columns and do a deep dive, a forensic study, into the structure.

ALLYN KILSHEIMER, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: So if it is not disturbed.

TODD (voice-over): Structural engineer Allyn Kilsheimer says it's not clear if the standing structure of the Champlain South Tower is in imminent danger of collapse or if there is a risk of heavy slabs or other debris falling. Still the possibility of that and the fact that some of the rubble has shifted is worrisome.

QUESTION: Should it be demolished?

KILSHEIMER: The bottom line is we -- you know, there is the emotional issue and then there's the structural issue, right? OK. Most probably, this portion of the building that you see the debris hanging from, that portion of the building, most probably, should be taken down.

TODD (voice-over): Kilsheimer has been hired by the town of Surfside to investigate this collapse and assess the safety of other nearby buildings. A key safety concern: a large column and a big concrete slab that are hanging from the open decimated facade.

KILSHEIMER: You know, the hanging debris is kind of unstable.

TODD (voice-over): Another big worry, Elsa, the storm that may be a hurricane when it approaches this area and may hit this area.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): This area could see tropical form (sic) -- tropical storm force winds.

KILSHEIMER: The first thing I'd worry about, even if it's 40-mile-an- hour winds, is debris getting blown off of this building.

TODD: Allyn Kilsheimer says it won't be until after they can account for as many people as possible in that rubble. Then, after they demolish the rest of the existing tower right here.

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TODD: Then, after he and other experts can physically get into the rubble and painstakingly examine all of it, only until after all of that, he says, can we begin to find out the cause of this collapse.

All of that could take months, Kilsheimer says, and he is asking all of us to be patient -- Brian Todd, CNN, Surfside, Florida.

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BRUNHUBER: Sweltering record high temperatures in parts of the Pacific Northwest this holiday weekend as more than 4 million people remain under heat warnings. In Oregon, officials report at least 94 deaths related to the extreme weather. Washington state reported at least 13 deaths in the Seattle area alone.

The situation is even more dire in Canada. British Columbia reported more than 700 deaths in the past week. That's three times more than normal.

Meanwhile, dozens of wildfires are burning in Canada, particularly in the bone-dry Western Provinces. The minister of national defense says armed forces are being sent to the city of Edmonton to provide support throughout the region.

In the tiny town of Lytton, rescuers say they're looking for missing residents after most of the community burned to the ground earlier in the week. It happened after the town posted the highest temperature ever reported in Canada, 121 degrees Fahrenheit or 49 degrees Celsius.

U.S. airports are expecting record travel over the July 4th weekend just as health officials are expecting an even bigger uptick in COVID cases. Experts are encouraging those travelers who aren't vaccinated to make sure they mask up. CNN's Nick Watt has more from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Boy, was it crowded LAX this morning, holiday travel plus a suspicious package. This weekend expected to set pandemic era travel records, millions on the move.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: We are celebrating as a country at the same time as we recognize the fact that we're in a serious situation for those who have not been vaccinated. And the message is get vaccinated.

WATT (voice-over): Why?

Because of the Delta variant.

BARBARA FERRER, HEALTH DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Another wave could become a very real possibility.

WATT (voice-over): There were 506 new cases confirmed in Los Angeles County Thursday, the highest tally in more than two months.

FERRER: We have enough risk and enough unvaccinated people for Delta to pose a threat to our recovery. And masking up now could help prevent a resurgence in transmission.

WATT (voice-over): Nationwide, still under half the population is fully vaccinated and the average new daily COVID-19 case count up 10 percent in just the past week.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I thought that we were going the right direction. We were seeing weeks and weeks of declining infections.

WATT (voice-over): The CDC calls the Delta variant hypertransmissible and it's being detected in all 50 states and D.C.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Currently, approximately 1,000 counties in the United States have vaccination coverage of less than 30 percent.

WATT (voice-over): Largely in the Southeast and Midwest. In Arkansas, 99 percent of those killed by COVID-19 since late January were unvaccinated.

WALENSKY: We expect to see increased transmissions in these communities unless we can vaccinate more people now.

WATT (voice-over): Johnson & Johnson just joined Pfizer and Moderna, confirming its vaccine does protect against the Delta variant.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: One of the most sort of pleasantly surprising things is how well these vaccines are holding up against the variant so far, against all of them.

WATT: Here in California in the past two weeks, the percentage of tests coming back positive has about doubled. It's still low but has doubled. And more than one-third of those positive tests are the Delta variant -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

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BRUNHUBER: And the Delta variant of the coronavirus is driving case surges around the world. Ahead on CNN, we'll talk to a medical expert about the highly transmissible strain and the threat it poses.

Plus, the U.S. has almost taken all of its troops out of Afghanistan, leaving the rights of millions of girls and women at risk. That's on top of warnings of a civil war. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: America's top commander in Afghanistan warns that the situation in terms of security there is, quote, "not good," following the most significant step yet in the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Now there are growing concerns that America's leaving behind a country no safer nor more stable than when its troops first arrived. CNN's Anna Coren is in the Afghan capital.

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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vast might of the U.S. military transformed this dusty airstrip into a miniature city and the nucleus of America's longest war. Ultimately, that might could not transform Afghanistan.

Friday morning, nearly 20 years after U.S. soldiers captured Bagram Air Base as a launch pad for the war on terror, the last U.S. servicemen and women departed Afghanistan, a nation not left strong, prosperous or secure, despite the sacrifice of more than 2,400 American lives and over 100,000 Afghan civilians, according to the United Nations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a faraway country.

COREN (voice-over): Many of those fallen soldiers repatriated from these runways. Now in the position of Afghan government forces, as they continue their lonely fight with the Taliban, they are the only ones who will consider Friday's U.S. departure a victory.

GEN. AUSTIN SCOTT MILLER, COMMANDER OF U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: The security situation is not good right now. That's something that's recognized by the Afghan security forces and they're making the appropriate adjustments as we move forward.

COREN (voice-over): Taliban fighters have seized back swaths of the country Americans fought and died to liberate. After once boasting a force of over 100,000 in Afghanistan, there will remain as few as 600 U.S. troops here to provide security for American diplomats.

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EDWARD PRINCE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We intend to maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul. That is something that is important to us, given our enduring desire to have a continued partnership with the Afghan government and, crucially, with the Afghan people.

COREN (voice-over): The forever war will continue, as Joe Biden wades out of the mire, mire that trapped his predecessors in a brutal and bloody stalemate.

Bush, Obama and Trump, each bouncing in and out of Bagram, pledging Afghanistan will never be a haven for terrorists, as it was when Al Qaeda plotted the tragedy of 9/11, those terrorists long since routed out and destroyed.

Now, nobody guarantees that violent extremists won't reenter the vacuum left by the United States, as the last American soldiers out of Afghanistan return to a nation that has long waited to welcome them home -- Anna Coren, CNN, Kabul.

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BRUNHUBER: And our Nic Robertson joins us live from London.

A bleak picture painted there by Anna Coren. It sounds as though the withdrawal from Bagram didn't go entirely smoothly in terms of the coordination with the local government.

What more do we know about that?

I'm curious if you think that signals more troubles ahead in terms of the security handover.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: For operational reasons, the U.S. military kept a very careful lid about when they were transferring out of Bagram. That base has been in recent years a target for the Taliban and would be for ISIS as well if they could manage it.

For the United States military, it was important to keep operational security. Therefore, details of precisely when they were leaving and of any timing of handover so that they didn't hand a propaganda opportunity to the Taliban, to land a mortar or a rocket or have any kind of, you know, distraction during a handover ceremony.

We don't know why there appeared to be sort of a lack of public coordination over this. But that -- I think the security situation on the ground speaks to the need for the United States not to telegraph to their enemy what has happened.

What it does more broadly, you know, this was a huge operating base. This does sort of define an end of an era, although we understand the drawdown will be completed by the end of August. It does seem that the large amount of forces that were going to leave have left and are very much in the tail end phase of this.

The signal it sends to the Afghan people and to the politicians is one that is deeply concerning because they see that the Taliban are taking advantage of the situation on the ground -- not only taking advantage.

The U.S. had negotiated with the Taliban, that the Taliban wouldn't attack U.S. forces but as they draw down and drew down, the Taliban have attacked Afghan forces in quite an unprecedented and unexpected sweeping offensive in the north.

BRUNHUBER: Now you've covered Afghanistan and the region extensively.

What does it mean for neighboring countries; Pakistan, for instance?

How might they be involved in terms of security and also possibly dealing with any influx of refugees that might be fleeing the Taliban?

ROBERTSON: Instability in Afghanistan means instability for its neighbors. Pakistan has witnessed that before. You only have to look in the northern border with Tajikistan. The Taliban have now seized, controlled, operate. The Afghan border guards were forced across the border into Tajikistan.

So there's already a knock-on effect in Tajikistan. They now have a border that's controlled by the Taliban. This is a border used for trade and they are housing or are taking care of Afghan national army troops.

For Pakistan, the situation is a lot more complex. There are many politicians in Kabul, Afghan politicians who believe that Pakistan's intelligence services are behind a lot of the Taliban's strategy, behind a lot of their planning and aid them in training. This is something that Pakistan absolutely and categorically denies.

In recent days, Pakistan have been putting up a wire fence across some of the border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They clearly fear what would be a potential large-scale civil war in Afghanistan, spilling over to them in terms of refugees.

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ROBERTSON: It's widely believed one of the Taliban's objectives is to cut the main highway between Kabul and Pakistan. So trade would be impacted. It's a refugee situation, a security situation and a trade situation. Every bordering country stands to be affected.

BRUNHUBER: So many knock-on effects, as you say. Always appreciate your analysis, CNN's Nic Robertson from London, thank you so much.

So now the question, what will happen to women and girls in Afghanistan once U.S. forces are gone?

Heather Barr is the interim co-director of the women's rights division at Human Rights Watch, joining me from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Thank you so much for being with us. Even before the U.S. troops left, attacks on certain groups, including women and girls, were going up. Tell us what you've been seeing.

HEATHER BARR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Yes. I think the deterioration in the situation has been much faster than any of us anticipated and faster than Afghans anticipated as well. As you say, that's included a series of intentional targeted attacks against civilians.

And those civilians have sometimes been women and girls, who seem to be targeted because of their gender. Sometimes it's been against ethnic and religious minorities, against journalists, against aid workers. So I think there's a very alarming picture developing.

BRUNHUBER: And your organization has called for a U.N. fact-finding mission precisely on this issue, which would be a pretty big challenge, given the insecurity in the country. I saw you wrote, "The U.N. should clearly communicate to perpetrators that attacking and killing civilians has consequences."

What would those consequences actually be?

How would anybody be held accountable exactly?

BARR: Well, war crimes and crimes against humanity are illegal and people should be prosecuted For them. The situation we're in at the moment, unfortunately, is that the Afghan government is pretty much making no real pretense of even trying to investigate these crimes, even when they're being held in government held areas, including the horrific recent attack on a girls' school in Kabul.

So we feel and the 19 other human rights organizations that signed onto that letter feel that the request that's been made by the Afghanistan human rights commission for a U.N. fact-finding mission is the only viable way forward in terms of not just having some accountability but also preventing these attacks by making perpetrators realize that there will be consequences.

BRUNHUBER: You mentioned the girls' school in Kabul. A lot of great work has been done in Afghanistan, especially when it comes to the welfare of rights of women and girls. I've seen it myself. It's hugely empowering that women have made huge gains in professional fields, politics, schooling and so on.

Will there be any lasting legacy of that good work?

Or do you expect that most or all of those gains to be largely lost?

BARR: I mean, of course, there's a legacy. If you educate a girl, you've changed her life and her family's life forever. But you know, I agree with you fully about the important gains that they made. Those gains happened because women and girls and many who support them saw an opportunity in the last 20 years and took it.

But, unfortunately, in the kind of attacks that I was talking about a moment ago, the women and girls who went out and got an education and joined, you know, the workforce and took leadership positions are exactly the people who are being targeted. So I think there's an intentional effort to try to dismantle that kind

of progress. I'm very frustrated by the way that the U.S. and other contributing nations seem to be responding with a shrug.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Even before the U.S. troops, again, have totally withdrawn, Afghanistan has been singled out for its record on human trafficking and the government and security forces are even allegedly complicit there.

How much worse do you think that will get once withdrawal is complete?

BARR: Well, there's a growing sense of lawlessness, you know?

And that's going to make it a space where all kinds of things can happen, including human trafficking and other abuses.

And so I guess the question is what, if anything, will the international community try to do?

And what, if anything, will they do to try to help the Afghan government to provide some rule of law?

BRUNHUBER: Yes. So many unanswerable questions right now.

[04:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: But thank you so much for highlighting some of these issues for us. Heather Barr from Human Rights Watch, really appreciate it.

BARR: Thanks.

BRUNHUBER: The Delta variant of the coronavirus is forcing lockdowns in countries around the world and pushing case numbers sharply up. After the break, we'll talk to a medical expert about the risks.

Plus, one woman gets the chance to thank the man who saved her from the Florida condo collapse. We bring you their reunion ahead.

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ESTHER GORFINKEL, CHAMPLAIN TOWERS COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: So then I hear boom, my bed shake. I see my apartment is shaking.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Global health authorities say looser restrictions, variants and low vaccination coverage are putting Europe at risk for a new wave of the pandemic in August. Case numbers are already rising in several European nations in the last week. Infections rose 10 percent.

But a new German study finds mixing different kinds of vaccines can provide strong protection against the virus. Researchers says a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and mRNA vaccines, which is Pfizer and Moderna, can provide a superior immune response.

Cyril Vanier joins us now from London.

This idea of mixing and matching, it seemed at first it was being proposed out of necessity. Now it might actually be preferable.

What's behind this?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Absolutely, Kim. This is the strongest recommendation we've seen in the world for mixing and matching vaccines.

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VANIER: Some countries have done it, as you say, out of necessity. Here, it wasn't the case in Europe, when there were safety concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine. And some under 50s, under 60s, who had received a first dose of that, were then advised to get a dose of a different vaccine such as Pfizer. That was out of necessity.

Canada said, based on scientific evidence, we could mix and match. Now Germany is saying, we should mix and match. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has done just that.

I know scientists but what our viewers need to know is this. There are different vaccine platforms, different technologies that trigger your immune system in different ways. They are finding now almost that, if you use -- if you mix and match, your immune system is being triggered in different ways for the first dose and second dose.

That gives you an overall stronger response so you're better able to fight the coronavirus. Germany is going to be doing it and the European Medicines Agency hasn't taken a position. But all of the scientific body of evidence points strongly towards mixing and matching. You may see Europe moving more and more towards this.

BRUNHUBER: Now a few days ago, an E.U. Committee said the Euro 2020 soccer tournament crowds are, quote, "a recipe for disaster."

Now we're seeing more evidence that may be true. There will be more matches today but the crowds in Italy will be a little different. Take us through what's happening.

VANIER: Well, you're not going to see as many British football fans at the game, even though it's England-Ukraine being played this afternoon. Italy is enforcing strictly the rule that it had in place for a little while now on U.K. travelers. And the rule is they have a strict five-day quarantine.

They are concerned people will fly in, not respect the policy and, as a result, Italy has canceled -- asked UEFA to cancel for the U.K. ticket holders. Now it is beyond a doubt that these Euro events are creating clusters and are creating infections.

We saw that with Scotland's reported COVID numbers just last week. They said upwards of 1,300 people, who had traveled from Scotland to England for the England-Scotland game, came back with COVID.

It's not necessarily, Kim, happening at the game, because usually you can't just walk into those arenas. You need to have been fully vaccinated and show a negative COVID test. But it's the things happening before and after the game. For all of those reasons, Italy has decided to limit the number of U.K. ticket holders who are able to watch the game.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much, Cyril Vanier in London.

For more on the Delta variant, let's bring in Sterghios Moschos.

Thanks so much for joining us. I want to elaborate on what we're hearing there. We're seeing the Delta variant become more and more prevalent in the U.S. Nothing like what you're seeing in the U.K., where it represents 99 percent of the cases.

We're watching what's happening here. It seems like it's a test case of how a country handles a spike of a more transmissible variant without imposing new restrictions. It looks like the government is going to go ahead with ending the lockdown July 19th.

Is that a mistake, given what we're seeing?

STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Yes. It's a critical mistake because I think what's going to happen to individuals, in the medium and long term, we haven't got a clue what the vaccine does in that period of time -- not the vaccine, the virus -- what it does in that period of time.

Therefore, we are assuming here as a country that it's fine to get infected, it's fine to get maybe mild symptoms, it's fine to have this virus in your system. A lot of people in the scientific community are not convinced that we have sufficient data to support that herd immunity concept by the back door, by the children especially, in the nation. I think this is a very bad idea.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Speaking of children, I mean, that's a subject you've been sort of looking into a lot and especially when it comes to long COVID.

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BRUNHUBER: What more are we learning about the effects in children?

MOSCHOS: So again, the studies in children are actually very top level. They will look at the amount of antibody and the symptoms that children may present with. The information about long COVID is coming out of the adult population.

What we've seen is we have people that are half, more than half of individuals, that are symptomatic of the disease, sustaining symptoms for a very long time, months up to a year. Some of those symptoms can be extremely debilitating.

The mechanism that explains this debilitation -- frankly, problems with the heart, that's damage to the heart tissue, that's physical damage to the heart tissue; likewise, physical damage to the brain.

We're also seeing physical damage to bloodline vessels to pretty much all the tissues in the body. To assume that is all going to be fine and will repair itself is premature. We just don't know how bad the damage is causing and how long it will last.

Therefore to let the children be infected is potentially -- I can't promise this -- but it is potentially a recipe for getting some 10 percent or more of the population on the future generations of this country to be unable to contribute fully to society, to put it mildly.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that would be hugely problematic, as you say. Here in the U.S. less than half the country is fully vaccinated. According to the survey, most of the adults who plan to get vaccinated have already done that.

Something I hear very often from people who are vaccinated, they say, you know, well, people don't want to get vaccinated and they get sick, that's on them. But as some experts are explaining, these unvaccinated people are potential variant factories in the words of one disease expert.

Explain how this works and how that might end up even affecting those who have been vaccinated.

MOSCHOS: OK. It's really simple. The reason why we have the so-called U.K. variant and the Delta variant from India is because people were allowing the virus to replicate. Now we can have literally hundreds of billions of copies the virus in one individual person that is copying it, that is basically infected.

As this goes along, copies itself, it has a chance of making errors. Those errors give rise to the variant. Some might give the virus an advantage; some might give it a disadvantage.

But if one of those erroneous viruses have the advantage and skip to the next person, now we're starting to see the transmission change of a new potential variant.

Is it of interest?

Is it of concern?

Time will tell. We won't know. But the more transmission is allowed to happen in the population, the more chances are that we will get a variant that will cause a problem or to overcoming the vaccine barrier.

This is why it's so important to understand that the vaccination protects from hospitalization. It protects from death. It doesn't necessarily protect you from catching the virus. You may get very mild symptoms. You -- amongst the population that has

been vaccinated -- it has a physical barrier it needs to overcome. If it jumps over the barrier to the next person who is vaccinated, then it has the ability to establish itself. That's how we're going to lose the efficacy of the vaccines.

That means we will find ourselves in a situation where when we see the exponential growth of variants, if they come, by the time we do something about it, it will take a minimum of six months to get mRNA vaccines ready to go into the public. And the health systems will be overwhelmed.

We don't want that. This is why people like me and other virologists say, we need the vaccination. Absolutely we need the vaccination but we also need to stop transmission. If it doesn't breed, if it doesn't spread to people, that's the threat, it won't be able to spread. That's what we're asking for.

BRUNHUBER: You're fighting an uphill battle as we open up and more and more people become more resistant to taking those measures.

[04:45:00]

BRUNHUBER: But anyway, thank you so much for bringing all of that information to us. Really appreciate it. Thanks again.

MOSCHOS: You're very welcome.

BRUNHUBER: A piece of pre-pandemic life makes a comeback during the Independence Day weekend in the U.S. Holiday travel roars back but so do long airport lines and jammed highways. That's next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Americans are on the move this weekend. A record number of travelers are expected to hit the road for the July 4th holiday. As Pete Muntean reports, airlines can't keep up with the demand for people who want to get away.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This July 4th travel rush will actually look a lot more like normal. The TSA says numbers at airports like Nashville and Myrtle Beach are actually higher than what they were back in 2019, pre-pandemic.

The TSA screened about 2.15 million people in airports across the country just yesterday. We will see if today sets a new pandemic-era air travel record. In fact, United Airlines thinks that Monday will be its busiest day in the last 16 months.

But airlines got a lot smaller during the pandemic. That means fewer planes and fewer workers to staff them.

All of this makes it harder for airlines to bounce back from bad weather delays and cancellations. And FlightAware says that U.S. airlines canceled or delayed about 10,000 flights just yesterday. This means that the vast majority of Americans will elect to drive.

AAA says 43 million Americans will hit the road, that number actually higher than 2019 pre-pandemic. What's so interesting is that AAA says the real problems began on Monday -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

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BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We're learning more about how residents in Surfside, Florida, sprang into action to help save their neighbors as the walls of the Champlain Towers crumbled around them. More than a week after the collapse, two survivors got back together to recount their narrow escape. CNN's Randi Kaye has this.

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GORFINKEL: So then I hear boom, my bed shake. I see my apartment is shaking.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Champlain Tower South shook in the middle of the night, Esther Gorfinkel was in bed on the fifth floor. The 88-year-old grandmother quickly made her way from unit 509 to the stairwell. Soon, Alfredo Lopez spotted her. He and his family had escaped Apartment 605.

ALFREDO LOPEZ, CHAMPLAIN TOWERS COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: I remember Esther told me that she had her knee was bothering her and that she wanted to stop. You know, I told her, you know, stopping is not an option, you know.

KAYE: There was no way you're going to let her stay?

LOPEZ: No, I just, you know, like it just didn't even occur to me. You know, like, I mean, I can't you know, she's a human being.

KAYE (voice-over): But Esther couldn't walk on her own. So Alfredo picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder and carried her down.

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LOPEZ: I don't know how many flights of stairs. It was -- it couldn't have been that many because I'm really not that strong.

GORFINKEL: He just picked me up. He just picked me up.

KAYE (voice-over): Esther and Alfredo hadn't seen each other since that terrible night when he saved her life, until we brought together.

LOPEZ: How are you? Como estas?

GORFINKEL: My god. I'm so happy.

LOPEZ: I'm so happy too. I'm so happy to see you. And, you know, we made it out, you know? So that's what's important, right?

GORFINKEL: Yes. Yes. That's important.

LOPEZ: Very good.

GORFINKEL: I'm so happy, you know.

LOPEZ: Yes.

GORFINKEL: Over there --

LOPEZ: Yes.

GORFINKEL: -- somebody's watching.

LOPEZ: Absolutely. It wasn't, you know, simply, you know, Esther just wasn't our time, you know.

KAYE (voice-over): Together they recounted their chance meeting in the stairwell and their narrow escape.

GORFINKEL: In that meeting you don't talk. You don't say anything. Let's roll. Let's roll. Let's roll. Let's go.

KAYE (voice-over): They made it to the garage but they still weren't out of danger. The garage ceiling had collapsed and water was ankle deep.

LOPEZ: There was one car that was pancaked on top of another car that was pancake on top of a huge slab of concrete.

KAYE (voice-over): A mountain of debris proved too much for Esther. So Alfredo had to think fast. His son helped to somebody too.

GORFINKEL: Somebody push.

LOPEZ: Yes, you know, we gave her like the old, you know, one, two, like, you know, let's, you know, just pushing her, you know --

KAYE: Push her over the --

LOPEZ: Well, we push her up and we got out of the garage, which was very important.

KAYE (voice-over): After they cleared the garage, Alfredo put Esther over his shoulder once again and carried her to safety on the beach.

KAYE: What do you think about somebody who would do that?

GORFINKEL: They thinking somebody else when they see something bad, you know. You need to help each other in bad times too. There's no other choice. Remember, everybody helping is about time. What I can tell you.

KAYE: It's just so beautiful that they helped you.

GORFINKEL: You know, in bad times you help everybody. Whoever knocks on my door, I give it to them and then gone. It gave me the price of my life because I did so many good things.

KAYE: How lucky do you feel today?

GORFINKEL: I know I'm lucky, very lucky to be here with my family. Sounds good. Sounds good.

KAYE (voice-over): That night Alfredo and Esther lost everything they owned but they escaped with their lives and a friendship that is sure to endure.

GORFINKEL: You made me very happy.

KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Surfside, Florida.

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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us.