good evening and thanks for being us with on this wednesday night. i m tom llamas, in for david. and we begin with the thanksgiving holiday and the coronavirus threat. the nation already in the middle of a devastating covid surge, now facing the biggest test yet. the cdc warning people to stay home and keep holiday celebrations small or face what some fear could be a humanitarian crisis. an even sharper rise in cases some three weeks from now, just in time for christmas. hospitalizations at a record high for a 15th day in a row. more than 88,000 patients taxing medical care. and we know when hospitalizations rise, deaths soon follow. more than 2,300 in the past 24 hours. 261,000 lives now lost. and today, take a look, there were long lines at a number of airports. at least 5 million passengers since friday. the most since the pandemic began. and also long lines for covid testing, though officials warn
not today, dry eye. tonight, the holiday virus dangers, as america is set to mark thanksgiving in the middle of tonight, the holiday virus dangers, as america is set to mark thanksgiving in the middle of a pandemic. millions on the move tonight, on the roads and in the sky. as public health officials double down on warnings to stay home. dr. fauci fearful of a surge during a surge. concerns this could become a humanitarian crisis. a 15th day of record hospitalizations. 2,300 americans dead in 24 hours. and the new emergency restrictions. also new tonight, president-elect joe biden addressing the nation, predicting a long, hard winter ahead and urging americans to make sacrifices now for the greater good. calling it an act of patriotism and saying, we re at war with the virus, not one another. breaking news from the white house. president trump flexing his pardon power, pardoning his
past anything that stands in its way. .well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. shutdown showdown about to enter its 15th day, and it s all because of the president s demand for funding for his border wall. but nancy pelosi and house democrats, they show no sign of caving. joining me now is freshman congresswoman jennifer wexton, a virginia democrat, who was sworn in just yesterday. she represents a seat which had been held by republicans for 60 of the past 66 years. quite a feat for her winning that. congratulations to you.
for, your tax dollars here, is closed for business for the 15th day. the vice president mike pence will lead a meeting between leadership staff from both parties later this morning. you know the museums and the zoos are closed in washington. but it s so much bigger than that. and it will likely affect you or someone you know or something you care about. if this is the year that you wanted to start a small business, the agency that handles small loans for that is not processing loans right now. maybe you re planning for a major life event like getting married. congratulations, but you may have to wait because the d.c. court that handles marriage licenses is closed. and in just a few days, all federal courts could be impacted because they re projected to run out of money on january 11th. maybe you re thinking about or in the middle of buying a house. depending on your type of loan, your closing could be delayed. the irs is impacted, too. most workers there are off the job. that s great,
they re going to be working on a deal to end the shutdown. this of course as we all wake up to the third week of this. president trump is tweeting from the white house this morning. he says, quote, i don t care that most of the workers are not getting paid are democrats. i want to stop the shutdown as soon as we re in agreement on strong border security. the president has made that claim before. there s no evidence that federal workers are primarily democrats. union leaders for federal workers say their members belong to both parties. a big part of your government that you pay for, your tax dollars here is closed for business for the 15th day. vice president mike pence will lead a meeting between both parties this morning. the museums and zoos are closed in washington but it is bigger than that, and it will effect you or someone you know or something you care about. if this is the year you wanted to start a small business, the agency that handles loans for