in-person learning on january 18th. let s go to sam brock who is in miami, where in just this past week, florida has reported nearly 400,000 new covid cases. sam, to you. increased infections, and now hospitalization numbers are smashing records coast to coast. here in florida, we just reported nearly 70,000 cases in one day on saturday. not exactly signs that things are slowing down right now, as those on the front lines are exhausted and just trying to keep up with this latest surge. for hospitals trying to tread water under this latest covid wave, a crushing milestone just reached in the last 24 hours. icu capacity has now eclipsed 80% nationwide. a mark matching delta, and signaling serious problems ahead if it climbs even higher. that s where you start to see situations in which lives that we could save with modern medicine actually will not be saved. hospital staffs caring for more patients with depleted ranks. we re in worst shape than we were prior to the holidays.
final metrics was from remote learning itself. the teachers union wanted to stay remote until january 18th or covid numbers slowed down a little. the district said no, remote education is too detrimental to our students and seemed to reach an accord for teachers to come back tomorrow and students on wednesday. one thing to keep an eye on, though, the reason the mayor has not released specific documents about what this agreement has been is she wants to wait until the rank and file union members vote tonight came a house of delegates vote. the rank and file vote is expected to happen later this week but in the meantime, teachers will be back and students will be back and that s of course the most important part, don. omar, thank you. appreciate that. president biden heading to georgia to push for voting rights, a state where this happened when the republican governor signed a new law restricting the vote. i ll talk to this georgia lawmaker. you said you gave her one more time like
if he can retain his title but there are questions whether he was in public when he was infectious. yeah, raising a lot of question. we ll continue that. paula hancocks, thank you. in chicago it s the fourth day with no school. the teachers union and union officials remain deadlocked. the question is how to get students and staff safely back into the classroom. the teachers union wants increased safety and testing protocols and the opportunity to teach from home until the current surge peaks. they vie january 18th at a day to resume in-person learning. city leaders want everybody back in the classroom. families and students are struggling as they wait for students to start. jackson potter is a social study teacher and a trustee of the chicago teachers union executive board. i believe 20 years you spent in chicago public schools, at this
cnn s omar jiminez is joining us. omar, will the kids in chicago going back to school on monday? reporter: well, wolf, we re waiting on that final announcement. that should be coming soon, at this point. but if the trend continues, it would be a fourth straight day of canceled class here in chicago. this, of course, comes after the teachers union earlier this week voted to go virtual. the school district said they couldn t support that. and then class was canceled. one of the major sticking points in these ongoing negotiations has been access to testing. we learned today, governor j.b. pritzker here in illinois has been in contact with the white house to try to get more tests to apply to this situation. these were conversations the white house confirmed, saying that they ve been in touch with pritzker and chicago mayor lori lightfoot, trying to assess their needs in this. but of course, if they can t come to a solution, the teacher s union says they re prepared to refuse in-person w
it s way too early for this. good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that notes that the former president has never been known for his policy chops. i m jonathan lemire on this tuesday, january 18th. we ll start with the news. the senate will begin voting onnen a pair of voting rights bills today despite strong backing from the white house that will likely fail to pass. the senate will convene this afternoon to begin debating but is not expected to hold a vote today. after debate on the bills begin, senate majority leader chuck schumer will move to end debate. that requires a filibuster-proof 60-vote margin, and that s when republicans are expected to block the bills. senator schumer said he ll put forward a bill on the filibuster change after it s used to block the voting rights legislation. the only path forward on this important issue is to change the