are overwhelmed and short staffed. our rare access inside the covid icu in a hospital that s seen a 900% jump in covid cases since thanksgiving and new information tonight on getting those free covid tests promised by president biden. also tonight, the supreme court hearing arguments over the president s vaccine mandates the signal that the justices gave on how they may rule. the three men convicted in the murder of ahmaud arbery sentenced how long they will spend behind bars, and the emotional words in court today from arbery s mother. the major winter storm slamming the east coast up to a foot of snow, dangerous road conditions and next the bitter cold moving in the deadly crackdown kazakhstan s president issuing a shoot-to-kill order. to quell violent protesters the new crisis spilling out on to the world stage. a second tennis star joining the world s number one player in detention in australia over their
already coded this morning, so it is very exhausting. reporter: all right, gabe. a sad and hard reality playing out in so many hospitals. let me ask you right now about the white house s promise to get at home test kits to all americans. where does that stand? reporter: yes, lester the biden administration just awarded two contracts related to the tests they will be sent through the postal service. details are still being finalized, but the white house is expected to provide more details next week. lester gabe gutierrez, thank you. beyond testing, the supreme court today considering the fate of another biden administration effort against covid. a federal mandate requiring tens of millions of workers to get vaccinated or take weekly tests as pete williams reports, the justices seem skeptical reporter: the court tonight seems prepared to block what the biden administration calls a powerful tool for fighting covid a mandate that companies with more than 100 employees
stacked up. reporter: a tiny makeshift morgue overflowing with bodies followed by lawsuits from families. $220,000 in federal fines, a name change, but still the same owners who remain under investigation by the state attorney general. they told nbc news at the time they faced unprecedented challenges as best they could as of today, 213 residents and 114 staffers tested positive, the highest number of any long-term care facility in the state. the center did not respond to nbc s repeated requests for comment today. the national guard will arrive monday to help, getting residents from beds to chairs with daily hygiene and dressing and with testing and screening of staff, residents and visitors. you re going to see, i think over the next couple of weeks a lot more of that. reporter: nationwide the cdc says there are nearly 15,000 covid cases
upended by this virus. i want to warn you some of this may not be easy to watch gabe gutierrez reports from inside a covid icu in maryland. reporter: when a patient s heart stops, seconds matter this is a code blue. an older covid patient unvaccinated this is as urgent as it gets this is the acute time frame. we re here trying to save someone s life. reporter: the frantic scene as heart-breaking as it is familiar. we are going to intubate. reporter: she never imagined she would be so busy. it s very tough you go to the bathroom and you cry and you come back and you do it all over again. reporter: this was supposed to be her day off. she came in anyway why? because i m a nurse. i m a nurse. and i signed up to be a nurse. the patients did not sign up for covid. reporter: just outside d.c., doctor s community health center in maryland has seen a 925% jump in
died down some in almaty, kazakhstan s biggest city government forces have retaken the air force and restored some internet service lester richard engel, thank you. back home covid is surging again inside nursing homes, including a new jersey facility we reported on extensively where a shocking discovery was made in 2020. our anne thompson has more reporter: covid hitting new jersey s nursing homes hard once again the state reporting active outbreaks in more than 500 long-term care facilities including the woodland behavior nursing center which nbc news has been covering since the spring of 2020. back when it was called andover sub acute. they re mismanaged. reporter: for an nbc news investigation, what he found at the facility just weeks into the pandemic shocked the nation. easter sunday of 2020, there was 17, 18 people in the morgue