from russia and belarus are now banned at the australian open. the announcement comes after fans displayed a russian flag at a first round hatch. while players from russia and belarus can compete, but not as representatives of their country. thus no flags. a new call today by a republican colleague to freeze the campaign accounts of george santos. the scorching statement he released to justify it. the controversy missouri as lawmakers try to tell women what they can and can t wear. and the white house now pointedly going after republicans who continue the attacks in the classified documents controversy. does this signal a shift in strategy for team biden? you re watching chris jansing reports, only on msnbc. you re watching chris jansing reports, only on msnbc.
to wear, if we re in a high-transmission rate zone. and right now, 99% of counties in the country are high transmission rate zones, as they say. at the same time, hospitalizations are declining. deaths are still high in hospitals, but they re also declining. but the pediatric cases right now are concerning, especially, of course, as we relate to the fact that kids under 5 are not eligible for a vaccine. so right now, we have 300,000 pediatric covid cases in the last week. still a very high number. and as you mentioned, d.c. is dropping the indoor mask mandate on march 1st. however, it s still going to require them in schools. other states are doing the same thing. california, illinois, new york, virginia, all announcing plans to drop the indoor mask mandate, but keeping the mask requirement in schools in place for now, because, of course, you have an at-risk population, if you re talking about preschoolers and kindergartners, who may not yet be eligible for the vaccine. and then kids o
stacey abrams. and she fully supports all the masked mandates for kids. but she can t be bothered to be a good example of where on herself because of her age alone. never mind maybe any comorbidities she may have. abrams s att a much higher risk for covid-19 and any one ofny those kids with their maskhe on in that room and yet she s the only one not wearing the mask. here is a 70 year old lady jill biden. also no mask surrounded by kids all wearing masks. and here is sixty four year old teachers union boss randi weingarten maskless on msnbc demanding your kids continuec o wear masks. take a look with dr. maga hat just told about masks not particularly being effective for children. what s the argument against taking off masks in schools? well, the argumenthe is that you . me just say this . t i am in favor of an off ramp on math. right? the real issue becomes are is this is is the spread low
the new pope to wear, as soon as he is elected, in sizes small, medium and large. american cardinal, timothy dolan and his daily radio message yesterday said that he was anxious to get started after days of meetings. it was remarkably enriching and uplifting, but i m kind of happy they re over, because we came here to elect a pope. joining me live from the afghanistan are msnbc s chris jansi jansing, elizabeth lev, and father mark heydo, international director for the vatican museums. chris, i want to start with you. there appears to be this divide among the cardinalsov s over th direction of the church, as we look at the way the american press is talking about this. this l.a. times says the electors have appeared to have split in two different groups and are backing angelo scola and cardinal who is work at the vatican are backing the brazilcan cardinal, odilo scherer. what are you hearing from people
this could roll into next week. thanks to raymond. now let s check in with anderson cooper also in rome getting ready for his show at the top of the hour. you have video of what s called the room of tears. we ve never seen the inside of this room. what is it? reporter: yeah, it s rarely ever been seen before, and the vatican released his images just today. it s really fascinating to get a look at it. this is actually the room that as soon as the pope is actually elected before he appears out on the balcony overlooking st. peter s and is introduced to the multitudes who will be assembled waiting for him and really the world media that is waiting for him, he goes into this room where he changes into his papal garments, because obviously they don t know who the next pope is going to be. they actually have three different sizes of robes and garments for the next pope to wear. they don t have extra large. john paul ii was an extra large, but they have small, medium and large waiting f