Americans are getting vaccinated. Live from cnn fcenter, this is cnn newsroom. So the u. S. Is seeing some success in the fight against the coronavirus. Even as Health Experts raise the alarm about variants spreading more easily. This is the situation right now. The u. S. Is getting closer to 27 million total coronavirus cases and almost 460,000 americans have now died from the virus since the pandemic began. But more and more americans are getting vaccinated, over a million just in the past week. And for families of seniors such as this woman getting vaccinated in california, it means not only relief from the fear, but hope that a Better Future is coming. Im just excited that shes able to get the vaccine. First and foremost, its her safety. Were looking forward to being able to spend more time with her. Its been tough trying to keep our distance. But with the vaccine and once were all vaccinated, we can spend more time together. And the country is making progress. The number of new infections and hospitalizations are dipping now following that holiday related surge. The white house says it plans to help step up the number of Vaccine Doses Available even more by evoking a law from the days of the korean war as erica hill now explains. More vaccine could be coming soon with some help from the defense production act. We told you that when we heard of a bottleneck on needed equipment, supplies or technology that we would step in and help. And a third vaccine, now in line for fda emergency use authorization. I am really excited about the j j vaccine. The fda will consider j js vaccine on february 26th. More mass vaccination sites coming online today. As soon as i heard about it on the news, i signed up right away. Yankee stadium offering 15,000 appointments in the first week. Today is as special a day as Yankee Stadium has ever seen. How we prioritize communities of color will be vital in ensuring that we close that inequitable gap. The Cdc Working On New guidance after prompting confusion earlier this week. There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen. And that that safe reopening does not suggests teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely. Dr. Wolenski spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously shes the head of the cdc, but were going to wait for the final guidance to come out. Nationwide, a million vaccines were delivered last week. I think overall, things are deaf the matly getting better. I really do think that we will get on top of this by summer or late summer. Because i think everything is now moving in the right direction. New cases dropping 61 in the last month. Covid hospitalizations falling below 90,000 for the First Time Since november. More states loosening restrictions, increasing Indoor Dining capacity. North dakota dropping its mask mandate. Wisconsins governor fighting his State Allergy to keep one in place. Were going to keep putting people first. Were going to keep listening to the science. Experts caution these proven efforts are still needed to keep fast spreading variants at bay. Viruses will not evolve and mutate if you do not give them an open playing field. Also, we see encouraging findings from astrazeneca and oxford. While the study has yet to be peer reviewed, researchers say the vaccine offers similar levels of protection against the variant as it does to similar strains of the virus. Meantime, several leaders of the uk are calling on availability of the Johnson Johnson vaccines. Selma, what can you tell us . So positive signs of progress. This announcement by Oxford University and astrazeneca. If true, this is huge news because this variant in the u. S. Is up to 70 more transmissible. Its been spreading through europe and through the United States. So for all those woerts watchers, theres positive sign this could be available for this variant. The crucial Reproduction Number is down. Advisers say they believe the Epidemic Race is lifting. When does all this let up . Prime minister Boris Johnson says were not outs of the woods yet. Take a listen. I want to stress that it is still early days and we have rates of infection in this country still very, very high. And more people, almost twice as many people in our hospitals with covid now than there were back at the peak in april. So what happens next . Well, the Prime Minister has promised on February 22nd were going to get an update, a road map out of lockdown with one of the key issues being reopening the schools. And in order for that to happen, in order for these restrictions to be eased, you have to get that Vaccination Program into peoples arms, as many people as possible. So far, the key vulnerable groups are being vaccinated. You have almost 11 Million People who have received their first dose. The over 50s have been told you should be getting your vaccination in may. So moving very quickly here. But, again, the Vaccine Program is the only protection against the variance. So you have to get it into peoples arms. So joining me now is dr. Rachel clark. Shes a Palative Care and specialist. She captured what life is like during that first wave of the pandemic. Great to have you on the show. Thanks for joining me. So when you wrote this book, the first wave feels like a very long time ago for all of us. Did you have any real concept of how this pandemic would play out, the world that we live in now when you were writing about that first wave . Not even slightly. It was shattering a year ago in the uk. We were going through what you experienced in new york city. Our Health Service completely overwhelmed and patients dieing on a scale and at a swiftness that none of us had ever witnessed before in the national Health Service. It was absolutely devastating. And the only thing that kept you going was sort of the belief you clung on to that one day this would be over. And if anyone had said to us a year down the line, your Health Service will be more overwhelmed, the deaths will have reached a peak no one ever imagined, i think we would have curled up in balls of misery, really, and, yet, here we are again. And, again, the prospect of months and months ahead of you, how are doctors and nurses doing . You havent curled up in a ball just yet. Not quite, although the tragedy this time around is that this awful second wave wasnt inevitable. It didnt have to happen. And i think a huge number of us, doctors and nurses, feel as though inexplicably our government made the same mistakes second time around. We locked down too late in the run up to christmas. We were desperate for lockdown to be put in place. It didnt happen. So a quarter of all our deaths in the united kingdom, over 25,000 people have died in 20201. So in the last four or five weeks and thats devastating. Staff, many of us suffering from Posttraumatic Stress symptoms, anxiety, depression. I talked to colleagues who sometimes tell me theyre feeling suicidal and thats, i think because everybody is so burnt out and shattered by the first wave, but now were going through it all over again. It is really tough on Health Care Professionals just now. It certainly is. Also, you mentioned the devastating toll in human lives. Nearly half a Million People would have died here in the u. S. In the coming weeks, where you are, as well. You talk about these massive numbers of people. How do you begin to sort of process this collective pain, the magnitude of these losses . I mean, i read out the numbers day after day. And it doesnt quite you cant quite fathom how many people have been lost around the world. Its horrifying. I think when you are a doctor and you are seeing these human beings right up close and you literally or seeing covid19 suffocate the life out of your patients, you know that every single one of those people is a loved and cherished human being and they are looefg behind briefing mothers, spouses, children and it is you absolutely heartbreaking. But i think i try to hold on to my sanity in a way by saying to myself, every single one of those human beings, we in the Health Service are doing all we can to ensure that right up until the end, right up until that final breath about her treating them with care and love and compassion. And nobody in my hospital, we wont let anybody die alone. We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that a news or a doctor or somebody sits with a patient and talks to them and sometimes reads out letters from their loved ones so they know theyre not alone. That is what i hold on to. That is what tells me is that despiel all of this, people are good and is we get together and its the only way to get through a pandemic is by holding on to our humanity and never letting those numbers of lost souls be statistics. Theyre human beings. You work in end of life care. How difficult different is it to be alone, away from your family . Everybody, these numbers, these people, these lost souls have not been able to say goodbye in the way many of us would have liked to. How different is that, for the families and for those who go . So i think for me, overwhelmingly, its the greatest difficulty for this disease. If you imagine what its like for a patient who dies in hospital from this virus, from the moment they arrive inside the hospital, they literally never see a human face ever again. Every Single Person who looms over their bed wears a mask, they see pairs of eyes, everybody is gowned, everybody looks like an alien. That is absolutely desperate. What a situation. And the tragedy is we always try, if we think someone is close to the end of life, we trying to bring in a family member. But sometimes things happen too quickly and we have to rely on screens, on video calls, on messages that we read at the bedside. And all you can do in that situation is try to be a proxy for the family who arent there. So i think at the end of the day what ive learned more than anything from this horrific year is that humanity is humanity is humanity. I can never replace a spouse or a loved one, a family member, but if im there and if im talking to somebody and soothing them and holding their hands and playing their favorite piece of music, then im giving something that is worth more than morphine at the bedside. And i think in the national Health Service and im sure in hospitals all around the world, thats what we try so hard to do. Your words are beautiful. Theyre comfortabling to many of us listening to you knowing that you are there, having nurses and doctors like you there, but how angry do you feel, how frustrated do you feel that Vaccine Denialists and folks who go around not Wearing Masks at work particularly after a day of work . Yes. Sometimes ill come home and ill have spent 13 hours in the hospital and ill go on to social media and ill literally be abused by random members of the public for having the temerity as an nhs doctor to say that covid is real and serious and deadly. I have had Death Threats and rape threats for saying that our hospitals are full and so have all of my colleagues. We have Covid Deniers who deny our experiences at work who say youre disgusting, youre hitler, those are literally terms of abuse that ive is he evidence. Im incandescent with rage at those visits because they are deliberately sowing mistrust and inviting and encouraging people not to wear a mask. Im incandescent with rage at our government who could have locked down earlier, who could have prevented Tens Of Thousands of lives lost to this virus if only they had had the strength to do the right thing instead of pandering to what was popular. But they didnt do that. They ignored the best scientific advice. And to my mind, thats the Deaf Mission Nigz of a tragedy. Dr. Rachel clark, thank you for joining us. Thank you for your expertise. Thank you for everything youre doing every day. Thank you for your book, as well. And i wish you strength. Thank you, doctor. Thank you. So washington will soon be consumed by this unprecedented second Impeachment Trial of donald trump. The former president wont be there to defend himself, but democrats say they dont need him testimony, anyway. Also, President Biden admits republicans probably wont sign on to his covid Relief Proposal and hes okay with that. Well explain what comes next after a short break. Welcome back. To the democratcontrolled u. S. Congress is moving quickly on two fronts. One is an enormous 1. 9 billion stimulus package. Before that happens, there is the second Impeachment Trial of former president donald trump. Its expected to begin on tuesday, although there is not a clear timeline of how long it might last. President joe biden says he thinks the trial needs to take place, but in an interview, he decline dollars to say if he would vote to convict if he was still in the u. S. Senate. Take a listen. Lets turn to the Impeachment Trial. If you were still a senator, would you vote to convict him . Look, i ran like hell to defeat him because i thought he was unfit to be president. Ive watched what everybody else watched what happened when that crew invadesed the United States congress. But im not in the senate now. Ill let the senate make that decision. Mr. Trump has refused to testify at the trial in his own defense, but democrats who will prosecute say the case believes theres plenty of evidence already in his alleged role inner citing a mob to attack the capitol on january 6th. Theyre just not willing to go as far as i think we have to go. President biden making clear tonight in his strongest terms yet that he wont wait for republican toes pass his pandemic relief bill. What republicans have proposed is either to do nothing or not enough. Days after sitting down with Senate Republicans in the oval office, biden said he wont delay the bill in hopes of getting some of them on board. If i have to choose between getting help to americans who are hurting so badly and are getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation, thats an easy choice. Im going to help the American People who are hurting now. Biden says he was willing to limit which americans would qualify for stimulus checks in order to appease moderates from both parties. But he said theres one thing he is not willing to budge on. I am not cutting the size of the checks. Theyre going to be 1400, period. Thats what the American People were promised. However, its still not clear which americans will qualify for how much. There is an ongoing discussion about it. It is an active discussion. A final conclusion has not been made. After a Labor Department report said the u. S. Added only 49,000 jobs in january with just 6,000 of those being in the private sector, biden pushed for congress to vote quickly. These arent democrats or republicans. Theyre americans. And theyre suffering. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a two week timeline for getting this into americans hands. Absolutely. Before dawn on friday, the senate took another step to get the vote passed as Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first vote in a divided senate. An assertion bidens aids quickly rejected. Where larry got something importantly wrong, by the way, is that by suggesting that the administration was being dismissive of any potential inflationary appreciates. That is flat out wrong. And biden left the white house on friday for going to delaware for the First Time Since being in office. Before he did, he made a series of headlines including that he does not believe that 15 minimum wage that he has gone after is going to survive this coronavirus proposal. Its facing headwinds in the senate. He said here he believes because of the reconciliation rules its not going to make it. And the other headline is he was asked if former President Trump should still get access to those Intelligence Briefings that former president s receive while outs of office. He said no because of trumps erratic behavior. And theres no benefit but the biggest concern is former President Trump would slip up and Say Something that he learned in one of those briefings. Leslie, hi. Lovely to see you. President biden is defending his stimulus plan. How much is riding on this . A lot. As we know, the American Economy is suffering. Jobs are not coming back at nearly the rate they need to. A lot of people arent able to pay their bills and a lot of these benefits are set to expire in mid march. I think that President Biden has taken the decision that there is not time to wait and that the economic costs of delaying are simply too high in this case. Obviously, this is a huge focus domestically, but hes got some Foreign Policy that he wants to deal with. The president and Secretary Of State declaring this week that america is back, touting the administrations Foreign Policy priorities, they took aim at the saudis, cutting off intelligence and weapons sales and what do you think is going to be the Immediate Impact of this . Well, i think that it has been on the cards. There has been a lot of pushback during the trump administration. That support of saudi in the war and Yemen Precedes donald trump, even at continued and theres been an extraordinary humanitarian catastrophe. And i think to his credit, President Biden and his team said they would review the entire saudi relationship and cut off the support being used to prosecute that war. Remember that what we saw in that speech was very interesting because were getting very clear, very tough messaging, but both with respect to saudi and russia, what President Biden is saying is we will work with you on certain things. The New Start Treaty has been extended, but we will be very tough on others. So its a twin track, but it really was a very strong, as expected speech that really didnt throw up any surprises and, you know, the big surprise, the big change, i guess, is that the last four years have been marked crowded with inconsistency, lack of clarity and that is really the number one change. And, of course, on concrete things, russia policy, saudi, were going to see significant changes from the president. And also, lets talk about china because in many ways, chinese American Competition will define things one Foreign Policy ive read says it is less about building alliances, but more about building alliances against china. How much does america need allies not for the sake of it for a post liberal world order, but to manage a competitive rising china . I think the big question, working especially with europe, the ability of the Biden Administration to form a coherent approach with europe, whether its using sanctions on questions of human rights, whether its negotiating on 5g technology, on all the big economic questions really getting on board with europe will be absolutely critical because, of course, otherwise china can simply turn and peel off one of americas allies against it. And any negotiation becomes much less effective. So that really is the biden teams approach. But its going to be tough. Europe has demonstrated its move forward with that Investment Treaty with china, not clear that it will necessarily pass in europe. But its signaled to america that its not going to simply lay over and play ball. But i think the europeans will talk with the americans. What will come of that, we dont know. It is central to the strategy. Quickly, before we go, big week ahead with impeachment. How much does this President Need Impeachment politically or perhaps not inspect will it be a distraction . Its going to be a distraction, no doubt about it. The impeachment is vital for americas reckoning with its own democracy, with an insurrection that was possibly a coup and for signaling to the rest of the world that you dont just ignore Something Like what we saw on january 6th at the capitol. Always good to speak to you, get your analysis live there in london. Thank you. So protesters have been out in the streets of myanmars largest city days after the Military Coup there that ousted their democratically elected leaders. Well have the latest on the tense situation there. Thats next. Future bestsellers. Sleep stories. Mal hey, no roxy audiobooks, podcasts, audible originals. All in one place. Youd never wash your dishes in this. Your dishwasher looks clean audiobooks, podcasts, audible originals. But, when grease and limescale build up, its not as hygienic as you think. Use Finish Dishwasher cleaner its dualaction formula tackles grease and limescale. Finish. Clean dishwasher. Clean dishes. Dealdash. Com, the fair and honest bidding site. An ipad was sold for less than 24; a playstation for less than 16; and a 4k television for less than 2. Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. Remember, shipping is always free. Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me. Thousands of pro democratic demonstrators have been marching in myanmar. Theyre voicing their opposition to the Military Coup earlier this week. Were hearing that a second demonstration is now under way after the first one dispersed. And a lawyer for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi says hes not had access to either one. Ivan watson is monitoring these events from hong kong. What do you make of the scenes that have been playing out on the streets today . Well, you know, the coup on monday took the International Community and myanmar by surprise. Even though there were rumors that it could happen and its taken a number of days for people to process this and now we are weve been seeing signs of protests. People banging pots and pans at night, for example, scattered protests of doctors or students in different cities and today in the commercial capital, we are starting to see these demonstrations popping up, in some cases blocking demonstrators from marching down the road, but no signs of altercations thus far. The organization of these protests is being hammered by a crackdown on internet in myanmar. Weve heard from one Mobile Phone Provider saying that they received an order that went out from the Ministry Of Communications ordering them to shut down all Data Transmissions so that you now have voice calls and sms, but people ive talked to say they havent had any internet on their phones since 10 00 or 12 00 in the morning. And theyre saying that this is making it harder for people to communicate among themselves and certainly harder to get images and information out to the outside world. That said, im hearing that young people are communicating by phone now and that is helping to mobilize people to come out and join in the streets. Robyn. And how resilient is the military to these protests . How do you see the military responding here . The military has a strong history of ruling myanmar through yao the 20th century with very draconian governance and no roll rans of dissent. That started to loosen up over the course of the last ten years and over the last five years in a Power Sharing Agreement with the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi which is largely under house arrest since mondays coup. In decades past, the military ignored International Criticism and sanctions and myanmar a was one of the most isolated countries in the world. In its press release, its saying its not happy with this, that it is doing this because its worried about the safety of its employees on the ground. Another example, coming from the japanese brewery keeran, which announced this week it was ending its joint partnership with a huge myanmar corporation that is closely tied to the Myanmar Military and thats a company that invested more than. Half A Billion Dollars to buy up stakes in myanmars largest brewery five years ago. We could potential le see more of this to come, but this is a military that didnt mind being isolated and being viewed as a pariah for decades prior to this. Okay. Thanks for that update. Come back to us with any new developments, ivan watson there. Coming up next, an invisible threat to our environment. How the white house is tackling it with some surprising help. Zinc, other minerals, and herbs. Take on your day with airborne. You cant see it, you cant smell it and it is a dangerous to us all. Bill. Deep in the heart of texas in an oil field the size of kansas, a little team is trying to solve a big problem by showing the world an invisible threat. Where theres dark red regions, thats where we found really, really high levels of methane. Yes, they are Methane Hunters in search of that climate changing pollution better known as natural gas. You cant see it or smell it, unless you have infrared eyes and a laser spectroscope nose. Someone must have just walked by the inlet and breathed. That right . Its that sensitive . Yes. It can pick up your breath . Absolutely. This is carbon oxide down here. In the Permean Basin, you dont have to fly far to find it. They say its gone up there a bit. Just like you called it. So were downwind of that facility. Yeah. Thats most likely coming from that site. So what we found here in the Permean Basin is operators are wasting enough gas to heat about 2 million homes a year. Sometimes it leaks from old equipment oregon fanned wells. And sometimes when there is no one to buy it, they just burn it in a practice known as flaring. In fact, we found that the Permean Basin is emitting more than double any other oil and gas region in the United States. Scientists agree that if joe abide sn going to succeed in meeting the promise of the paris accord, fixing this is an urgent must. So one of his First Executive orders began to roll back Donald Trumps free pass to methane leakers. But the very next week, Texas Governor greg abbott signed an Executive Order of his own. Im in midland to make clear that texas is going to protect the oil and gas industry from any type of hostile attack launched from washington, d. C. He ordered every state agency to bring him every reason to sue the Biden Administration and seemed eager to start an energy civil war, calling out San Francisco for the recent ban of natural gals in new construction. In texas, we will not let cities use Political Correctness to dictate what Energy Source you use. We think the threat of Climate Change is very real. Much less hostile is big oils biggest lobbyist. We support both Industry Actions and actions by the federal government in the United States and around the globe to address this very important issue that we know is existential in nature. But, he argues, oil and gas will be around for generations and that the only way to fix the Methane Problem is to build more pipelines. We need a regulatory structure that allows these Pipeline Toes be built to ensure that we can get these products to market as quickly as possible. But, of course, the scientists would say that the fate of life as we know it depends on stopping that production as soon as humanly possible. Cuff it both ways . This industry provides about 630 of the Worlds Energy today. There is going to be a transition in energy, but im also confident that this city is going to be around for a long time. Exxonmobil and some of the other big producers have set some lofty goals for how they want to keep their emissions. But we found that here in the Permean Basin, the Methane Leak Rate is over ten times higher than what a lot of companies have set out to do. So flying above it all is another reminder that the true test of a man is what he does when he thinks no one is watching. And those Methane Hunters are about to get a fancy new tool thanks to a 100 million donation from jeff bezos. They will soon from a Methane Seeking satellite. To get a sense of the Foreign Policy implications, france recently shut down a 7. 5 billion deal when they determined that West Texas Natural Gas is too dirty of a fuel for them to burn in good conscious. Chances are, though, they will have plenty of customers in china and india. Bill weil, cnn, new york. Thanks, bill, for that piece. Now, millions of americans face whether socalled this weekend what the National Weather Service Calls it the when a blast of cold air is set to strike much of the country next week. Lets go straight to derek van dam to explain to us house cold this is going to be. Life threatening. Wow. What youre looking at behind me are not typos in my weather maps. These are real numbers, real temperatures. This is what it feels like on your exposed skin as you step outside. The National Weather service saying if you have exposed skin with temperatures like this as you head outside, you can get frostbite in ten minutes. These temperatures, especially sunday morning, the forecast lows, are approaching cold enough where the antifreeze within our vehicles could actually start to thicken and solidify, making your vehicle unusable. This is an arctic outbreak that we will not soon forget. We have several windchill warnings and advisories stretching through the dakotas into minnesota, all the way through the chicago, illinois, with region. This is what cools our temperatures down right near the surface of our skin and makes it feel so brutally cold. This is the actual windchill temperature forecast as we head into sunday morning, which should be the coldest of the weekend, especially across the Upper Midwest and through the great lakes. Were talking about temperatures approaching negative 40, even negative 50 in some of the rural locations across north dakota. Theres the arctic blast. Lots of purples, lots of pinks on this weather map. You dont need to be a meteorologist to understand what that means for you at home if youre watching from the midwest or the great lakes, its going to be down right cold. This is going to provide a Breeding Ground for a winter storm, yet another noreaster developing along the east coast. Latest updates this morning from the National Weather service. Just within the past 20 minutes, we have had winter storm Warnings Issued for 13 coastal states, stretching from Georgia All The Way to massachusetts. Here is the battleground. You can see a storm system moving in from the midwest. Another one gathering steam across the southeast. They will phase together along the eastern seaboard, providing a swath of heavy snow perhaps anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snowfall for the midatlantic into the major east coast cities so that i95 travel corridor is going to be locked in with some slippery and treacherous weather over the next 24 to 36 hours. So the height of the snow will pick up by sunday morning. It will exit quickly by Monday Morning across the new england coast, but not before providing a fresh blanket of snow. Remember, robyn, theyre still digging out from last weeks major noreaster that impacted the region. So misery for them. Goodness. Folks have to be really, really careful and rug. Good to speak with you. Well check in with you tomorrow and the next day, as well. Youre watching cnn. Well be right back. [announcer] pray. Coms bedtime bible stories calm your mind and ease your spirit. Download pray. Com to get the 1 app for prayer and sleep. Finally, Christopher Plumber has died in his home in connecticut. He is known for his role on the stage, broadway and dozens of tvs and films, but hes best known for his role in the sound of music. Fraulein, were you this much trouble at the abby . Oh, much more, sir. Mm. Good. We have to practice. Do allow me, will you . Oliver . Yes. They had some wonderfully loud music in the club tonight. What kind of music is that . Probably house music. House music. Okay. I must say, there are certain areas in which our ideas differ. Slightly. He said, quote, the atmosphere is tougher than ever, unquote. Where the hell is the rest . The Football Fans voice their criticism. You cut it. The sequence of event eggs, Prime Minister, convince me of your ability to take effective action. Any last words, frederickson . Come on, spit it out. A i i wonder if the oil you embargo was lifted and oil were to crash, i would be exposed. I have never been more vulnerable financially than i am right now. The legendary actor, Christopher Plumber, was 91 years old. Youve been watching cnn. Im robyn curnow. I will be back in just a moment with more news. Oh, you think this is just a Community Center . No. Its way more than that. Cause when you hook our community up with the internet. Boom look at ariana, crushing virtual class. Jamol, chasing that college dream. Michael, doing something crazy. This is the place where we can show the world what we can do. Comcast is partnering with 1000 Community Centers to create wifienabled lift zones, so students from lowincome families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. Oh were ready. Welcome to our viewers around the world. Thanks for joining me. Im robyn curnow. Coming up, cases are falling. The u. S. F