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VIDEO: NYC Health Commissioner Farley says city should expect 'several more weeks' of flu
A national flu epidemic continues to hit hard throughout the country with “widespread activity” in 47 states. New York is one of those states. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state public health emergency over the weekend.
NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley comes to "Early Start" with more on how the city is preparing for flu patients.
Newtown one month later: Shooting survivors offer support to victims
This morning Vice President Biden will meet with members of the House Of Representatives as part of the task force he's heading up on reducing gun violence. The task force is expected to make its recommendations Tuesday.
Meanwhile, today marks one month since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. A group of Newtown residents called "Sandy Hook Promise" will mark the anniversary by holding a news conference today. They plan to unveil a national grass-roots initiative to reduce gun violence.
The group will be joined by families of victims and survivors of other shootings. Among them is Stephen Barton, a survivor of last summer's Aurora movie theater shooting. He was shot in the face, neck and chest before escaping. Stephen now works as an outreach and policy associate for Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He also grew up about ten minutes from Newtown. And Lori Haas will also be there. Her daughter Emily was shot twice during the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting. Luckily she survived. Lori is now the Virginia organizer for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
As “Early Start” looks back at the Sandy Hook tragedy, we speak to Stephen and Lori, who are working to enact change moving forward. Both of them join us live from Newtown, Connecticut.
Flu outbreak in 47 states as people scramble for vaccine – Elizabeth Cohen reports
CNN continues to follow the miserable flu outbreak that is weighing down on the country. The CDC says the flu is now widespread in all states except California, Mississippi, and Hawaii. New York Governor Cuomo even declared a public health emergency this weekend. CNN Sr. Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the latest on the flu and what health officials mean when they call it an "epidemic."
“Basically, people are getting sick and dying from the flu in certain numbers,” Cohen explains. “When those numbers get high enough, we call it an epidemic.” But Cohen urges not to focus on that word. “Nearly every year there is an epidemic.”
Cohen also explains the significance of Governor Cuomo’s announcement. He’s also telling pharmacies that they can vaccinate kids, while in other years they have to go to their doctors for that. Still, pharmacies are choosing not to vaccinate children. “We put out...many phone calls to, pharmacies in New York, and the pharmacies we called, none of them are offering shots to kids,” Cohen says. In addition, these same pharmacies said they didn't really have enough even for adults.
Flu outbreak worsens; National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci explains
CNN is reporting brand new information on the rising flu influenza in the United States. Six more states are reporting widespread activity—that brings the total to 47 states, up from 41 the week before.
The Minnesota Health Department says 27 people have died from flu-related complications. South Carolina reports 22 flu-related deaths this season compared to one for all of 2011. Pennsylvania is also reporting 22 deaths, and six people are reported dead in Illinois. Eight are reported dead in Oklahoma, 15 are reported in Indiana, 7 in Arkansas and 18 flu related deaths in Massachusetts.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. He joins “Early Start” live from NIH headquarters in Bethesda, MD this morning with more on the nature of this outbreak.
CNN Trends: Twitterverse outrage over Oscar snubs for Affleck, Bigelow & freak-outs over an invisible driver
John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin tell you what's trending on the web this morning, including Twitter users posting outrage over Oscar snubs for Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow in the director category for “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty”, respectively. And freak-outs over an invisible driver when an aspiring magician pranks drive-thru workers who can’t see him in the driver’s seat costume he created. He recorded the whole thing.
MYB: Big corporate layoffs looming
Christine Romans is minding your business this morning with the latest in world markets and U.S. stock futures, which hit a milestone yesterday. “A five-year high for the S & P 500,” Romans says, and “the highest close since December of 2007.”
She also reports big corporate layoffs looming ahead, and another down day for gun stocks.
Flu outbreak spreads geographically, but number of people with symptoms down; CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen reports
The fast-spreading flu is now officially an epidemic. This year's flu season has come early—and hit hard. Nearly two dozen children have died. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is live in Fort Worth, Texas with a mixed bag of details and some good news.
“The flu activity in this country has gone down a bit,” Cohen says. “Two weeks ago we were talking about 29 states having high levels of flu activity. Now we're talking about 24 states having high level of flu activity. That is good news.”
Meanwhile, the outbreak has reached a wider scale. “We’re seeing less flu in the United States, but it is spread out more. Geographically it has spread out to more locations,” Cohen explains. “So, to put that in terms of numbers, two weeks ago, 41 states were seeing widespread activity, meaning it was throughout various regions of their state. Now 47 states say they're seeing flu in various regions of their state. So spread out more, but the actual number of people who are having flu symptoms has actually gone down.”
James Holmes took photos of Aurora theater month ahead of massacre; CNN's Ed Lavandera reports details from prelim hearing
The preliminary hearing presenting evidence against James Holmes for the “Dark Knight” shooting is over. A judge will decide tomorrow if the case goes to trial. CNN’s Ed Lavandera has been reporting on the hearing from Centennial, Colorado and tells us more about the chilling details it has uncovered to the public.
“Prosecutors have laid out a detailed time line of how Holmes planned the Aurora theater massacre,” he says. “Investigators say James Holmes started casing the Century 16 movie theatre about three weeks before the shooting. They say he came here on three different occasions and snapped off a series of pictures they found on his iPhone that showed various hallway and doors, even the exit area of theatre nine.” According to prosecutors, Holmes also spent weeks stockpiling weapons and rigging an explosive system in his apartment timed to detonate just before he started the killing spree.
“Holmes's deviant and deadly plan feels more like the deranged creation of a fictional villain in a Batman movie,” Lavandera says. “But all these disturbing details we've learned in the past 3 days still don't explain why James Holmes wanted to kill so many people.”
Researchers alert Jacksonville Beach police to great white shark tracked off Florida coast; OCEARCH Founder Chris Fischer shares details
This morning, “Early Start” shows you amazing video of researchers from "OCEARCH" yanking a 3,500 pound, 16-foot-long shark out of the water in September, just off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. They nicknamed her "Mary Lee," and she’s been very busy. Currently being tracked and monitored via GPS by the research group, you can see her activity in the last 72 hours on their website.
When the massive great white shark entered the surf zone early Tuesday morning at Florida’s Jacksonville Beach, about 200 yards offshore, the research group contacted Jacksonville Beach police and alerted them to the shark's presence. Police urged people to stay away. Chris Fischer is the Founder of OCEARCH. Also an expedition leader, Fischer is the one who tagged Mary Lee, and he joins us live from Park City, UT this morning with details.
CNN's Dan Simon surveys the coolest new gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show
The best in new tech is making its debut at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week and CNN’s Silicon Valley Correspondent Dan Simon is there to check it all out. He has the latest on the cutting edge gadgets and gizmos making an impressive splash in Sin City.
From robotic cleaners, and back massagers, indestructible cell phone cases, and ingenious smartpens on display, Simon highlights some of the ultra cool and innovative products at CES, “where 2,000 companies from all over the world are showing off their newest products to the 150 thousand people who came here to be dazzled.”
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