On these new nominations. Jessica, good morning. Reporter good morning to you, erica. Yes, getting word this morning, president elect joe biden, his Transition Team announcing key members of their health team. Of course, these people have quite the task before them, as the biden team works to get coronavirus under control, as we see these incredible surging numbers and record deaths. Were also learning that president elect biden will hold an event on tuesday to formally introduce the members of this team. So let me walk you through a few of them. You mentioned californias attorney general, Javier Becerra. He has been tapped to head up health and human services. Hes been one of the fiercest defenders of the Affordable Care act in court. He would also be the first latino to ever serve in that position if hes confirmed by the senate. Dr. Vivek murthy will be reprising his role as surgeon general. You mentioned he served under president obama. Hes also the head one of the cochairs of the covid19 Advisory Board for president elect biden and his team. Hes also been a longtime adviser to him on the pandemic, really from the beginning. Both of those, again, senateconfirmed positions. We also know dr. Rochelle walensky has been tapped to head up the cdc. And shes probably a familiar face to a lot of you. She appears on cnn as a medical contributor. So she will be heading up the cdc. All of this coming also as we learn dr. Anthony fauci, of course, staying on as chief medical adviser. John and erica, this team rounded out by jeff zions whos going to be serving adds the covid19 task force coordinator. Again, a slate of people who will be tasked with the giant job of getting coronavirus under control. Certainly its a giant job. Jessica, thank you. Tens of millions of californians this morning waking up to new stayathome orders, this as cases in the state smash records and concern grows about hospitals there. Cnns Stephanie Elam is live in los angeles with more on whats happening in california. Steph, good morning. Zbloor reporter good morning, erica. Lets just take a look at the Bigger Picture and you can see that across the country, we have a problem with this pandemic. It is getting worse. In just the last week, 1. 2 million cases have been added. And right now, a Record Number of hospitalizations, more than 101,000 people currently battling the virus from inside of a hospital. Here in california, it paints the picture very clearly that there is a problem. This as the state announced more than 30,000 new cases in people just reported in one day. This is obviously the way that we do not want to see these numbers to go. And because of that, we have this new stayathome order that went into effect regionally for two regions, the Southern California region and the san joaquin region. The state now broken up into five regions here. And thats because the icu bed capacity has fallen below 15 . In fact, these two areas are getting close to above 90 here. Obviously, scary numbers here. What this actually means is that bars, hair salons, barbershops, also museums, movie theaters, playgrounds, all of those will be closed now for at least three weeks, as we try to bend the curve here in the state. And theyre saying also that when you look at retail, theyre going to be allowed to stay open this time. However, theyre going to be limited to 20 capacity. As far as restaurants are concerned, its only takeout, delivery, and drivethrough that is now open here in the state, as well. In these parts of the regions where we have been put into these stayathome orders. Schools that have been open through a waiver system, they can stay open, but with the virus spreading as quickly as possible, they really want people to stay home. Here in los angeles county, reporting more than 10,500 cases in one day. Thats obviously shattering records that weve seen here, the first time above 10,500 in one day and approaching 3,000 people in the hospital. The situation is not good. This is why people need to stay home and this does not even take into account the fact that we have not seen the surge that many Health Officials expect we will see postthanksgiving. It is terrifying. Stephanie elam with the latest for us in los angeles. Steph, thank you. Joining us now, cnn medical analyst, former Baltimore City health commissioner, dr. Jonathan reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington university. Always good to have both of you with us this morning. Before we move into where we are right now as a country, lets take a look at where we may be headed in the next 44 days or so as were learning more about what incoming President Biden has in store, announcing this new health team and i thought it was interesting in the release saying that the goal here is to restore public trust in the Pandemic Response by leading with facts, science, integrity, and basically a plan. When you look at the folks who are on this team, what does that tell you about what could change january 20th . Well, i love the fact that we are leading with science and that there is going to be a coordinated national strategy, because thats whats been missing all along during this pandemic, when weve been plagued with mixed messaging, where public Health Officials somehow seem to be at odds with the words that are coming out of the mouth of elected officials. So i think its wonderful that president elect biden has selected this team and made it clear that he will let Public Health lead this response. Im particularly excited about dr. Vivek murty, who is a colleague and friend of mine. We were in Business School together. He was incredible as americas doctor last time. And im so excited that hes going to be reprising his role as surgeon general. I know that he brings to this role a lot of experience, not only in Pandemic Response, but in other aspects of Public Health, leading for example the charge against the Opioid Epidemic and addressing Mental Health and loneliness. These are issues that have not gone away, but have been amplified with covid19. And i think its exciting, too, that the president elect is considering to have dr. Murthy take on expanded roles either as part of his white house senior team or ideally also as a member of the cabinet, to really signify why its important to have Public Health be represented at the highest levels of government. It is interesting, though, Javier Becerra is not a scientist and not a doctor. Hes a politician who served for nearly 25 years in congress and now is attorney general of california, which is a major role, a managerial role. And now he will be nominated to be secretary of health and human services. Its not unusual, dr. Reiner, to have a politician or a leader head up that agency, governor Tommy Thompson did it under george w. Bush. Donna shalala under bill clinton. Its rare to see a doctor there, but a lot of people were hoping to have a doctor or a scientist there. How much does it matter to you. I dont think it really matters at all. Hhs is a massive department. The budget is about 1. 4 trillion. 80,000 employees. All of the critical agencies are under the hhs umbrella. Cdc, fda, cms. And what i think that massive federal Department Needs is an experienced manager. So mr. Becerra has been in government for a long time. He was a congressman for quite a while now, attorney general in california. So i think he has the experience to manage all of these different pieces. It would seem that maybe having a position to head hhs would make sense, but i think what we really need now is competence in people who can bring together all of these disparate elements and i think hes a very good pick. As we look at whats happening across the country, the numbers are all going really in the wrong direction. We look at the death trend map and its really striking. 47 states seeing the average weekly deaths increase. I mean, you look at the colors on that map and you know were not in a good place. And dr. Wen, i know youre really concerned, because you dont even think weve started to see this thanksgiving surge that weve been talking so much about. Put that in perspective for us. What could we be looking at and when do you think we could start to see it . The incubation period for covid19 is about is up to 14 days. The average is about 5 to 7 days. So what that means is, we had thanksgiving and people returning from thanksgiving about a week ago. So this week, were going to see the impact of that thanksgiving surge. And im afraid that all of those numbers that you just presented, erica, theyre going to go up. Were going to see increases of hospitalizations and hospitals are already on the brink. So where is the reserve capacity . Where are patients going to be going at this point . Im also deeply concerned about deaths going up. At some point, were going to be surpassing 3,000 deaths per day, maybe even 4,000 deaths per day. Our surge right now is intensifying. It is amplifying. And i hope that people realize that hospitals are the last line of defense. The first loine of defense is te community. And we really need everyone to do their part to flatten the curve. And that means wearing a mask, keeping physical distancing, but also so critically at this point, avoiding indoor gatherings. Anyone who has not canceled their plans yet for christmas and the new year should cancel their travel plans and absolutely not gather indoors with anyone who is not in their immediate family. Dr. Reiner, california is already in the critical stage right now. Tens of millions of californians waking up this morning to new restrictions in place. 28 million now. A lot. A lot of people. And these restrictions include stayathome orders, but im not sure its perfectly consistent stayathome orders, right . Retail establishments will still be open, ill be it at reduced capacity. Restaurants, only for takeout and delivery. Playgrounds will be closed, but still encouraging people to go outside. Whats your take on this . Its not completely consistent, and i think there is some tweaking that could make that better. I agree, i dont think it makes a lot of sense to keep the playgrounds closed. But every state is going to face this. If we dont do something different, if we dont social distance and mask up, every state as they run out of icu capacity will do what california has done yesterday. I want to note that today is pearl harbor day. And on pearl harbor, 24,003 americans were killed. Three days last week we exceeded that. Our average now is just about 2,200 deaths per day, so were going to exceed maybe as early as the middle of this week the number on a daily basis, the number of americans who died on that day of infamy. And its not going to change unless we change. So we need drastic measures and we cant really wait until january 20th to do that. So the governors will have to enact some of these really stringent measures to protect their Health Systems. And were seeing it start in california. Well see it all across the country, even in states with gop governors that have been resistant to it. When their Health Systems start to break, they will be forced to do this. In terms of what we do now, too, its important to note, as much hope as there is in this vaccine, the reality for most americans is it will not be available to them for months and months, dr. Wen. So while they wait for the science to help them, the power is really in our hands. Thats very well said. The vaccine will help us in the spring. I am so optimistic by next fall, our children are going to be going to school as norm, that next winter, were going the see our Families Together in one place, all together again. Im so optimistic about what lies ahead. Of course, we still have to get the vaccine into peoples hands and build public trust and so forth. But we also have to critically get through this winter. It is just such a profound tragedy that we have thousands of people dying every single day, when we have that hope on the horizon so soon. And i hope people just consider the numbers that were having right now, with this high prevalence of coronavirus in the community, if youre at a dinner gathering of say ten people, there is a one in four chance that someone there has a coronavirus and just doesnt know it. With that kind of level of coronavirus, we just all have to act as if Anyone Around us are infected and we are infected, as well. Because im sure the last thing that we would want to do is inadvertently infect those that we love the most and overburden the Health Care System where we are even more. And so this is really the time to hunker down and i think every doctor and Public Health leader in this country is having this plea to the American People. Because we can all, with all of our help, we can save lives. Youve been so consistent in making these pleas, so have you, dr. Reiner. You talk about indoor gatherings like dinners. Well, what about legislative sessions . What about meetings with politicians . Which is what rudy giuliani, the president s lawyer has been doing over the last several weeks. You can see pictures of him here. He went to arizona, michigan, georgia, just this past week and we know hes walking up dr. Reiner down the street from you. Hes in Georgetown Medical center. He has coronavirus. He says hes doing well, but when you look at these pictures that were looking at of him in michigan, looking at people unmasked there, just a few inches away, what should we be taking away here . Whats the takeaway for you . First of all, like im sure every american feels, i the hope that mr. Giuliani recovers very quickly and gets back to his life. I will tell you, though, that it is not normal to be diagnosed with coronavirus and then admitted to a hospital. So either mr. Giuliani is sick and requires treatment that you cant get as an outpatients, such as high flow oxygen or steroids or some of the more advanced therapeutics like remdesivir, or hes getting special treatment. So ill just assume, because ill give him the pebenefit of e doubt that he is sick and im sorry that he is sick, we know that steroids make a difference. Perhaps monoclonal antibodies, when given early, although those are only approved in the eua for outpatient use. I hope he does i hope he does well. But its a cautionary tale. You cannot behave in public the way mr. Giuliani has behaved in terms of traveling all over the country, Holding Meetings indoors with large numbers of people, typically not being masked. And not acquire the virus. So if you want to see what it feels like to have coronavirus, behave like mr. Giuliani behaved. Im not blaming him. I dont blame patients more their illnesses. But im just trying to explain to the American People that modeling that behavior is the way is a prescription to acquire the virus. And we need to change that in this country. Dr. Reiner and dr. Wen, always appreciate your expertise. Thank you. And coming up in our next hour, well talk with dr. Anthony fauci about president elect bidens new health team, his place on that team, and also the worsening pandemic and also the vaccine. Be sure to stay with us nafor that. Georgias Lieutenant Governor rejecting trumps claim about overturning the election. keeping your oysters growing while keeping your business growing has you swamped. you need to hire i need indeed indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base so you can start hiring right away. Claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. Com promo this christmas. Im calittle girl is lost. I am taking her home. 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The personal attacks arent helping, karly. Dont you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something . [ muffled scream ] stop living with at t. Xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes. Developing overnight, georgias republican governor and Lieutenant Governor rejecting President Trumps request to open a special session of the states General Assembly with the goal of overturning joe bidens win in that state. The georgia official stressed that doing so is, quote, not an option that is allowed under state or federal law. Joining me is georgias Lieutenant Governor, jeff duncan. Lieutenant governor, thanks so much for being with us. We really do appreciate your continued willingness to speak with us and speak openly. Today, there was the vote in georgia, there was the audit in georgia, there was the certification in georgia. And all of those things found that joe biden won. And then there was the automated recount that the Trump Campaign requested and we expect today to be the certification of that recount. What do you think this certification will find . Well, i think its going to validate the processes and procedures that weve gone through for nearly five weeks now. And i believe that count is going to verify what we originally came up with, and that is is joe biden will win state of georgia and he will be sworn in on the 46th president on january 20th. Do you believe the election was rigged . I dont. Im proud to have worked hard with the attorney general, chris karr, with our secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger and his entire team and put on what is a fair and legal election here in georgia. We continue to case down all the little oneoff leads that weve got. I know the secretary of state and gbi are working on oneoff issues, like we would probably see in any other election. But i believe the election was fair and legal. It certainly was close. The person i voted for didnt win, but that doesnt change my Job Description and well keep working hard. I asked you that question, phrased that way. Specifically, was it a hard question to answer, was the election rigged . No, it wasnt hard at all. This isnt a third world country here in georgia, weve been running elections for a long time, were working altogether and we try to keep each other accountable and make sure our standards are high and modern as possible. So it wasnt hard at all, you say. I want to play for you the Georgia Senate debate last night with senator Kelly Loeffler when she was faced with that question. Listen. Senator, do you believe the election was rigged . Look, greg, its very clear that there were issues in this election. There are 250 investigations open, including an investigation into one of my opponents organizations. You know, for voter fraud. And we have to make sure that georgians trust this process, because of whats at stake in this election. So i dont think she found the question as easy to answer as you did. She dodged the question that you answered quite clearly there. You say, no, not hard at all to answer the question about whether it was rigged. Whats the impact of that kind of waffling on that question . Well, one, i was proud of senator loefflers debate performance last night and certainly proud to campaign for her and senator perdue. My consideration to both of them, just a few weeks away from our runoff, my encouragement is to cut the strings to any sort of talk about Election Fraud, misinformation, and just focus on reminding folks how important conservative values and creating highpaying quality jobs and fighting hard for law enforcement. Those are things that will win on january 5th here in georgia. Was that cutting the strings her answer . My encouragement is to work hard. And the unique thing here in georgia is all eight statewide constitutional officers are republicans and youve got republican majorities in the state house. We understand how to govern with conservative values here. Governor kemp has certainly put that on display for us. So my encouragement is to keep focused, make sure you redirect any of that information towards the misinformation on Election Fraud. So you and Governor Kemp wrote a letter yesterday saying that theres nothing in the law that would allow you to hold or declare a special session of the legislature to appoint a new slate of electorates to basically overturn the election. The law wont let you do it, you say. What about the sentiment. Whats your take on the sentiment, even the ask to hold a special session to appoint differentelectors . One, the law doesnt provide for that opportunity. But to your point, john, its just a bad idea. To think that i would wake up one day and decide that 2. 5 million peoples vote didnt count because it wasnt the way i wanted it to turn out, thats certainly not democracy. I personally think its bad idea, and oh, by the way, i have the benefit of the law supporting that decision. Im glad you said that, its not just the law, its also the whole idea of throwing out the votes of every georgian there. You pointed out, its eight statewide office holders, everyone who holds a statewide office in georgia is basically a republican. What do you see as being important to the future of the Republican Party in georgia this morning . Yeah, look, i think were at a crossroads here. You know, im certainly grateful for the four years that President Trump validated what an outsider can do, what a businessminded individual can do. Im grateful for that. Its proven to the Republican Party that that mindset is possible, that resume is effective. But i think there are some lessons to learn here. I think we need to continue to look for better ways to communicate than 280 characters on twitter. I think we need to continue to look for opportunities to tackle big issues like immigration reform. You know, build the wall is a great project naume. Its not necessarily policy. And when we talk about health care, its a huge win. When folks show up at the emergency room or have to pay a premium at the end of the month, they dont care if a democrat or republican is making those decisions, they just need it to be affordable and accessible. I think its a huge opportunity for republicans Going Forward when we try to launch what gop 2. 0 looks like. John, i would love to wake up one day in four years and instead of shooting to get 50. 1 of the voters, i would love to see an opportunity to go get 60 percent plus of the voters that are onboard with us. Lieutenant governor jeff duncan, as i say, we appreciate you being with us this morning and appreciate your willingness to keep on coming on to talk to us and telling the truth about the election in your state. Thanks, john. Joining us now, greg goostin, and cnn political analyst, sung ming kim, a White House Reporter at the Washington Post. And greg, i want to start with you. And i want to get to the debate in just a minute, but i think just touching on what john just discussed with the Lieutenant Governor, it was remarkable, his language there, which weve heard consistently from him. As you pointed out, right . Hes consistently telling the truth about what happened in the election and why its important to let those voices of the voters stand. He had no problem answering a question that Kelly Loeffler could not answer for you last night, saying very simply that he does not believe the election was rigged. Is his message getting through in georgia . It is hard to get that message through in georgia, especially when President Trump tracks thousands of people to a rally in valdosta, where hes telling georgia republicans to vote in a rigged election. The conflicting messages are very concerning to Republican Leaders here, as you heard from dunc duncan, a small number of republican georgia officials who have urged the party to look forward rather than behind, because of those conflicting messages of a false narrative of a stolen election could end up dampening, depressing turnout come january for these allimportant runoffs. Whats the sense from national republicans, those who have enabled the president s shenanigans over the last several weeks because they were so concerned about the georgia election, does everyone universally still feel that it was worth that kind of enabling or is there concern now bubbling to the surface that it may start depressing the georgia turnout . There is definitely, definitely concern among Senior Republicans right now about that concern that greg just mentioned. Because, again, not only the president himself but the two republican candidates and their respective runoffs are pushing this conflicted message, yes, please come on and vote for us. But, yes, there may have been problems in this voting system. But as long as the president of the party or the leader of the appeared here continues to falsely say that the system was rigged, that he actually won the election, republicans have really declined to stand up and basically prove him wrong and tell him the truth that, no, you did not win the election. We need to move on. We need to move on with the business of governing. I want to point to reporting from the Washington Post over the weekend, we surveyed every single sitting Congressional Republican in the house and in the senate, about 250 people and only 27 were willing to say that joe biden had won the election, which we know to be definitive fact. And that is republican republicans unwilling to stand up to a president who had so much power over the base of the party and you see it playing out in these two critical races that will determine the majority control of the senate and have huge implications for the incoming administrations agenda. A president who is also trying to exert that power over the governor in georgia. And i notice in your story about how kemp said he would not be calling a special session, you tweeted, this is a story that you should have to write. Its illegal to call a special session to overturn the will of the georgia voters. And thats what the Lieutenant Governor jeff duncan said. He said, the law does not allow the Republicancontrolled Legislature to impose its own will on this election process. But if you want a window into why senator loeffler didnt answer those questions i asked, is President Trumps twitter feed, he called jeff duncan, after jeff duncan went on cnn yesterday to Say Something similar, he called jeff duncan a puppet and called out governor brian kemp. So these two senators cant afford to alienate President Trump, because that alienates at least a decent chunk of the republican electorate here in georgia. I thought it was really interesting, too, what jeff duncan just told me, its not just against the law. The law doesnt provide any avenue for a special session in georgia right now. But he also said, its just the wrong idea. The sentiment itself is wrong, to throw out the will of the people there. To throw out a vote that was counted, audited, recounted now, and has shown the same results every time, basically. Right w, i mean, i think the Lieutenant Governor did an excellent job detailing in a clear fashion just the rigorous process that Georgia State officials went through to ensure that those votes were correct and to arife at the result that were seeing now, that joe biden won that state by about 12,000 votes and this was a fiveweek process. Election officials worked hard to make sure those results were accurate. He is a public official who is trying to restore and keep the voters faith and integrity of the system, but yet you have the president going out there this was a message that we knew the president was going to give on saturday night at his rally in valdosta, where we continue to make these false claims against the system and continued to cast doubt on what what was a fully functioning election process. And this is the same system that now republican candidates are asking georgia voters to have faith in. And thats certainly a problem for republicans and also certainly a problem when you have a leader of the free world, a president of the United States asking for, in this particular state, in georgia, to essentially throw out 2. 5 million peoples votes. That is not you know, thats just wrong on its face. Sung minh, thank you so much for being with us tonight. The whole country was watching. It was really very skbregs yint and you did a great job. President trump leaves the white house in 44 days, but congressional investigations into his presidency may continue beyond that. We have brandnew cnn reporting, next. announcer carvanas had a lot of firsts. 100 online car buying. Car vending machines. And now, putting you in control of your financing. At carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. And these arent madeup numbers. Its what youll really pay, right down to the penny. 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Democrats have a tough balancing act ahead when it comes to some of these investigations that they started pursuing back in 2019. Remember, they were looking at every aspect of the president s administration. Whether it was his immigration policies or his personal finances. And in interviews with aides and committee chairman, my colleague, jeremy herb and i have learned that essentially democrats are going to continue pursuing some of these investigations. And i want to look back on a couple of the important ones that they plan to keep pursuing. A lot of them are wrapped up in court. One of them in particular, that fight over president Donald Trumps tax returns. Remember, there was a request in 2019 for the president s tax returns. The Treasury Department refused. They went and had a subpoena. They are now tied up in court. And i talked to a house ways and Means Committee chairman, richard neil. He told me that he continues to pursue that case. And he expects that it could go as far as the supreme court. There are other areas where democrats are still fighting in court for some of these documents. And theyre not going to drop that, despite the fact that president elect joe biden is making it very clear that he wants some of these committees to be focusing on a robust legislative agenda. Everything from covid relief to infrastructure. So thats going to be taking some of the committees time. And its going to be part of the discussion democrats are going to be having with their leadership over what other areas that are not wrapped up in court they may have to continue pursuing. And ive been told from multiple lawmakers on the democratic side and aids that theyre essentially looking at anything that they could make legislative changes to. One example is security clearances. If you remember the house overnig Oversight Committee was pursuing whether or not the Trump Administration followed the correct protocols when it came to some of those security clearances that were administered. There will be questions about whether or not they need to keep pursuing that investigation to get answers that they never received from the Trump Administration to ensure that there arent further or future abuses. Of course, the biggest question, does President Trump run again in 2024 . And does that change the calculus of what House Democrats do on capitol hill when it comes to some of these investigations. John . Really interesting reporting. Lauren fox on capitol hill, thanks so much for that. Thousands of new York City SchoolElementary Students are heading back to the classroom for the first time in weeks today. We have a live update, next. At dell technologies, we started by making the cloud easier to manage. But we didnt stop there. We made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. No matter what it does, or how it changes. And we kept going. So you only pay for what you use. Because at dell technologies, we stop. At nothing. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. With zero down, zero due at signing, the only thing a disaster cant destroy is hope. Donate now at redcross. Org this morning, the Largest School system in the u. S. Reopens classrooms for Elementary School students. This as the pandemic is getting worse. Cnns Bianna Golodryga live at a school here in new york city with a look at whats going to happen in the next 45 minutes, bianna. Its starting to look like normal, the school behind me will begin to open in the next hour and you see a school bus just pulled up. This is going to impact 190,000 new york students. Thats just a fraction of the 1. 1 Million Public School Students here in the city of new york. But why is this important . We know that distance learning, Online Learning has been the most difficult for kindergarten and Elementary School students. We also know that the rate of transmission among that age group has been relatively low, which is why Elementary School is reopening this week and its going to be here for good. Gone is going to be that 3 threshold, an arbitrary threshold that the mayor had put into place as he had worked with the teachers and principals unions to get them onboard, as well. This new plan will require weekly testing for students, continued mitigation, mask wearing, distance, as well. But theyre going to keep schools open, regardless of where that Positivity Rate is. And the city is 4 right now. But keep in mind, when schools close, john, it was just at 2. 8 . And there was a lot of frustration among parents. Why did you close schools and you opened bars . Why are restaurants still open and gyms still open and the schools are closed . This is a big struggle for parents, especially those trying to navigate work and Online Learning. If you look at demographics of the students who went to school before it closed, you had 43 of hispanic, 25 white, and 17 africanamerican. So you see a real Diverse Group of students, needing to go back to school. And erica, i dont know about you, im sure youre in the same boat. I will never take school for granted again, as a parent. Certainly not. There is a reason that teachers go to school for such a long time to become teachers. Its because its not an easy job. Reporter exactly. On any day and certainly not bloat remotely. Bianna, thank you. We want to remember some of the 282,000 american lives lost to coronavirus. Brenda grant drove a school bus in oklahoma for 22 years. Known for her wit, a feisty personality and a kind heart. Friends also called her an inspiration for continuing to drive even as she was going through earlier cancer treatments and surgeries. Cnn affiliate kfor reports shes survived by three children and her husband of 30 years. Baltimore math teacher antwan balls dream was to teach in new york city and it was a dream he was just about to achieve. But just as ball was getting ready to move, he fell ill and ultimately died of coronavirus. He was just 43 years old. In georgia, a sad ending to a beautiful, long love story. 70yearold gayle bowen died just hours after her husband, willard. A 50year marriage. They first started dating in high school. Their daughter told the Atlanta Journalconstitution that her mother just wasnt going to live without daddy. Well be right back. Were carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100 online. Now weve created a brandnew way for you to sell your car. Whether its a year old or a few years old. We wanna buy your car. 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The one upside is that your hospitalizations dont seem to be pushing the limits quite as much, but theyre still conce concerned in your state. The number of positive cases over 6,000 yesterday, over 5,300 three days in a row, those are all records and youre right. The good news in the midst of this awful pandemic is our hospitalizations are up, but theyre not climbing at the same rate as cases. And theyre not nearly where they were in the spring. The only caveat to that is that typically trails positive cases, so were going to be looking very carefully at that number a week or two from now. Were still in the thick of it. This is no doubt about it, this is light at the end of the tunnel but the next couple of months are going to be really tough. When you look at the states around you, i know a lot of decisions have been made in concert with the governorship of new york, connecticut, pennsylvania, but we have a map. If we look the at the Positivity Rate the past week in pennsylvania, 36 . Youre at 10 in new jersey, a little bit less in new york and connecticut. How concerned are you about that Positivity Rate in pennsylvania spilling over into new jersey . Listen, i think we should all be concerned about number of cases and Positivity Rates anywhere. Ours is way too high for our taste. Were the densest state in the nation, which most days is a good thing. That allows us to do a lot of thing with our economy and with our society but when you got a pandemic, it spreads like wildfire. Were seeing that right now. Our neighbors have been extraordinarily good to work with from day one, governor wolf, governor cuomo, lamont, cardi, the whole team, weve been blessed by a great neighborhood. But were ul up against it right now. Theres no two ways about it. You have now, youre limiting outdoor gatherings to 25. Not too long ago they were capped at 150 people which felt like a lot. Bringing that number down, how much do you think that will start to impact the spread . Erica, it will help on the margin. We had 500 a few weeks ago. The problem is the weather is colder. All of the things we were doing outdoors three months ago were largely doing indoors and theres a lot of pandemic fatigue, and that combination, when you add to that Holiday Season is lethal. So we wanted to bring the outdoor number down. Were much more focused, i have to say, on the inside, our maximum gathering number on the inside is ten people, and by the way, a the lo of the transmission is in private settings, so no matter how much enforcement we have, we cant get into every living room. We have to plead with people, keep your guard up. Were only here a few months away from Vaccines Available to the broad society. We just got to stay strong right now. We see the numbers out of california and they are troubling on a number of reasons, but also people looking at these new stayathome orders, what is closed what, is open, can be confusing to people. Waking up this morning in new jersey im sure youre watching whats happening in california. Do you envision more restrictions coming into place including some of what were seeing right now out west . You have to leave every option on the table, erica. I cant say no to any alternative, but i dont see it at the moment. We also are very different from california in that we dont have the land mass. We dont have a fraction of the land mass. As i mentioned a minute ago, were the densest state in america. Weve got communities one on top of each other so when we take steps they are overwhelmingly taken at the state level, thats the way it will continue to be. If we see transmission, we will try to surgically strike as best we can. We had restaurants late at night turning into sort of basically clubs, so we said no more Indoor Dining after 10 00 p. M. Those are the types of steps well take. Well leave everything on the table, but at the moment, thats where we are. I want to get your take quickly on two more points before i let you go. Everyone hoping for stimulus relief this week. Are you confident that there will be a bill passed . I sure hope so, erica. It is well past due. Folks are unemployed, small businesses, restaurants, state and local budgets, to keep folks employed and delivering services. I hope we get something. We need it. So youre hoping for it. As a lot of americans are and lastly, id like to get your take on the Bidenharris Administration announcing their health team this morning, nominations and appointments. What do you make of this roster, and what do you think will change come january 20th . Listen, i think its an incredibly strong team. I spoke to the president elect on saturday night, on a general matter, not about these names but thats a firstrate team. Ill pick vivek out as a specific example. Hes been there privately giving advice from day one. Hes the real deal that, whole team exudes professionalism, exactly the team we need in the field right now. Do you anticipate more of a National Plan coming from this team . I do. I do. I think youll see, again, i have to say this. The Trump Administration, in our hour of need, we have consistently been able to find Common Ground and we will be forever grateful for that, but at the same time, its been a Patchwork Quilt of approaches to this, some of which is warranted, most of which is not. We need national mandates, whether its face coverings, defense production act, doubling down even further on the vaccine distribution, the development has been huge, hats off to everybody associated with that, the complexity of the distribution ahead of us cannot be understated or underestimated. The more national we are on this, i think the faster well get out of it. I know youre anticipating those first shipments of vaccine those doses coming to your state in the coming weeks. Governor phil murphy, always appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Thanks for having me, erica. Stay with us. Dr. Anthony fauci joining us next. New day continues right now. Attorney alhalf ger beis he rah will lead the department of health and human services, dr. Vivek murthy and this obviously comes at a critical moment in the pandemic. More than 30 million californians waking up to new restrictions this morning. More than 28,000 new cases reported in that state overnight. Nationwide, more americans are hospitalized with the virus than ever before and among them, President Trumps personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, who spent the last several weeks traveling the country pushing false Election Fraud claims, often while unmasked. Joining us now, dr. Anthony fauci, he is the director of the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases and he was just officially named to be chief medical adviser on covid to president elect joe biden. Dr. Fauci, thanks so much for being with us this morning. The president elect just rolled out his health team and his Covid Response team and your name is part of that list. We knew it was coming. You will stay on as the director of the institutes of Infectious Diseases and allergies, and to be the chief medical adviser on covid19. What does that mean . How will that be different than the role youre playing right now . It will be essentially involved in all the aspects of the response coming up as we get into 2021 for covid19. Obviously, this is an enormous challenge that were all going to be facing throughout the country, as we emerge into and from the winter months, so theres going to be a lot of activity both from a fundamental science standpoint, vaccines, therapies, understanding the disease better, as well as the Public Health response, so i will be part of the team that the president elect has put together to respond