address the nation. the president will be announcing his plan to tackle the winter surge of coronavirus as the omicron variant becomes the dominant strain in america. three weeks ago, omicron made up 1% of cases, and now the cdc says it is 73% of cases. we're learning of the first known u.s. death linked to this variant, a texas man who was unvaccinated. dr. anthony fauci is stressing this morning that people should not panic and can still celebrate the holidays as long as they're taking the right precautions. >> people are vaccinated and boosted and do the things that i said. you want to be prudent and always be extra special careful because you're dealing with an unprecedented situation of a virus with an extraordinary capability of transmitting. you want to make sure when you travel to see relatives who are vaccinated and boosted, that you don't get into a situation where you go to an airport, you don't have a mask on, you're in an indoor congregate setting. that's what i mean about being careful. when you're in the home with vaccinated and boosted people, you can feel comfortable enjoying the holiday celebration. >> the new wave is hitting virtually every part of the country now, including at the white house, where president biden was in close contact with a staffer who later tested positive. the white house says that the president has tested negative. let's start at the white house. jeremy diamond is there and standing by for us. what are you hearing about the president's speech coming up in a few hours? >> reporter: well, listen, kate, president biden is going to try and accomplish a few things with this speech today, the first of which is to try and provide some assurances to those americans anxious about this omicron surge and the coming holiday season. for that, the president has a message to the vaccinated, which is that you are well protected from serious illness and death, particularly if you have that booster shot. you can continue to go ahead with your christmas and holiday plans. but to the unvaccinated, beware, essentially, making clear that you are at higher risk if you are unvaccinated of those bad outcomes with covid. the president will also announce a series of new actions that he is taking to try and address this surge of coronavirus cases including the most notable of which is this shipment, this purchase initially of half a billion rapid at-home tests which americans with can request beginning next month using a website that the administration is setting up and receive those tests free of charge. the white house is sending additional teams to states hardest hit including mobilizing a thousand service members to help hospitals that are overwhelmed with cases in the coming weeks and months. those are the steps we're expecting president biden to announce. the details on those at-home tests, we're waiting on when this website will launch. officials say it will be sometime in january. >> sometime in january. thank you, jeremy. as jeremy has laid out, testing is a big focus of the white house and it's also urgently needed right now in places like new york, which is once again becoming an epicenter of infection. the state reporting new cases jumped more than 80% in the past two weeks. cnn's jason carroll is outside one new york testing site and joining us now. jeremy -- jason, rather, people were lined up before sunrise, hours before that site even opened. why? >> reporter: right. and they knew they had to do that from experience because the day before, kate, they were waiting hours and couldn't get an appointment, so they showed up this morning before things even opened just to get on a wait list. 158 people ended up on the wait list, and at this point the wait list is closed. they are no longer accepting appointments at this particular location. the mayor is saying that by the end of the week there will be two dozen additional testing sites set up. this as covid numbers across the state and in the city continue to go up. the new york state breaking a record for new infections for the fourth consecutive day. 23,000, more than 23,000 new cases reported statewide. most of those cases are right in new york city. more than 15,000 cases again. not seeing an alarming spike in hospitalizations. the mayor saying he is committed to having the city, state open through all of this. >> we've got to beat omicron, we have to avoid shutdowns and restrictions and keep moving forward. vaccination is the key. >> reporter: in terms of vaccinations, the major just announcing, kate, just a short while ago that he's now offering a $100 incentive for new yorkers who have been vaccinated to go out there and get their booster shots at one of these locations. that offer is in effect from now until december 31st. kate? >> jason, thank you so much for that. joining me is dr. paul offit from children's hospital at philadelphia and a member of the fda's vaccine advisory committee. let's start with what we'll be hearing from the president in a few hours. at this point in the pandemic, what do you think the message should be from the white house? >> i think it should be that all politics is local. what's the problem with this pandemic? the problem is people who have chosen not to vaccinate themselves. israel, for example, has a vaccine rate of roughly 91% of the population, and they have dramatically slowed the spread of that virus. they imagine one death a day, 33 deaths a day here. that's the key, vaccinating the unvaccinated. how to do that? it won't at the fed or state level but at the local level. here in philadelphia, we're fortunate to have people like a doctor who goes into a community and does everything she can to convince that community to get vaccinated. or people like barbara block or sage meyers who do just that. i think that's what has to happen. if you look at a conservative talk show host like hugh hewitt, he talks about here's how you talk to conservatives if you're going to try and get them vaccinated. he's vaccinated. it works the other way. rfk jr. goes into lancaster county community, a community full of those who are amish, and convinces them not to be vaccinated. there has to be a force, a mobilization of people going into these communities and answering their questions, holding town hall meetings, whatever it takes, to try and get people vaccinated at the local level because that's the only way to get on top of this pandemic. i'm a little tired of talking about monoclonal antibodies, antivirals and boost er dosing and further protecting those who are already vaccinated. we need to vaccinate the unvaccinated. that's the message. >> it's an excellent point and really kind of refocusing with all the data and information out there. really what you're saying is we need to refocus on exactly what the core mission has been all along but seems to have just, i don't know, if it's kind of gotten lost in the noise because, yes, the message from the white house is important, but is it just that it's harder to organize, all politics is local, to organize these town hams? what you laid out seems very rational and understandable. >> so where does it have to come from? i think it has to come from hospitals and medical schools, university centers. they have to essentially mobilize a group of citizen scientists and activist to get out there. remember in 2000 when there was a scare that the measles, mumps, or other vaccines caused autism? there were a lot of folks choosing not to vaccinate their children. so children's hospital sent an army of physicians to hold town halls to meet with parents and answer their questions. i think that helped. that's how this has to happen here. i think there will be a lot of different strategies based on what this community is, but i want has to happen. >> vaccination is key and central. the other part of this is testing. that is part of the focus of the white house. let me play how dr. fauci described it today. >> putting up about 20,000 testing sites, getting half a billion tests quickly, literally within the next few days abe, and then have a situation where you could get anywhere from 200 million to a half a billion tests per month. we will be able to very soon have all the tests that people need. >> you said you're frustrated because people are talking about monoclonal antibodies and booster shots. i think there's understandable frustration why the white house is still ramping up testing ability, at this point still talking about that. is that already a failure? >> well, sure. this was something we should have done a while ago. the uk was way ahead of us on this one. i'd be curious about the data. if you choose to get tested or want to, it says you're interested in your own health and presumably the health with those of who you come in contact with. these testing centers are for people primarily vaccinated? i don't know that. it's important to test and important not to get out there if you're infected. i think if we're going to get on top of this, we need to find some way to vaccinate 50 million or 60 million people saying no thanks. >> dr. fauci also told cnn today that an important consideration being discussed right now is cutting the time period that vaccinated and boosted people, sounds weird to say, that they need to isolate after testing positive, especially when it comes to health care workers. right now, it's a ten-day isolation, kind of across the board. what do you think of cutting that time? >> it's a good idea. there was a study out of singapore looking at people who were vaccinated but then had a mild infection. to answer the question for how long were they shedding infectious virus, they found if you were vaccinated you shed for less long and in lower quantities than if you were unvaccinated but had a mild infection. i think that's perfectly reasonable. it's very wearing, being in a hospital, taking care of the children we are now. anything that enhances morale is a good idea. >> dr. offit, thank you. >> thank you. coming up for us, the build back better bill has become a tale of the two joes, joe biden and joe manchin. did a sunday evening phone call fix everything? 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sources say the president and joe manchin had a friendly phone conversation sunday after manchin torpedoed the build back better bill sunday morning. what's not known is whether that call did anything to fix the relationship between the duo, now nicknamed the two joes, while trillions of dollars in spending, re-election hopes and the president's agenda hang in the balance. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. great reporting by you and kevin. how do things look today? are these negotiations on or are they dead? >> reporter: the tensions have definitely cooled and both sides are taking a positive tone particularly at the white house. the measured tones from white house officials across the west wing about senator manchin made one thing clear -- they still need joe manchin to get anything done in this divided senate. that is still essential here. so we are learning, you know, a little more about what led to this feud. joe manchin was simply furious at the fact that he was singled out in a statement from the white house last thursday about, you know, the disagreements on this bill. we're told that his name was -- he asked that his name not be included. our manu raju on capitol hill is reporting that joe manchin was furious about this. we've been hearing similar things for last several days. so this is what he was talking about yesterday when he said it's not the president but it's the staff around the president that led joe manchin to do this. what does this all mean for the future? the reality is there is still a path to doing some type of a domestic agenda, covering these vast social spending programs on pre-k, perhaps extending obamacare subsidies, some climate programs. that path is very much unclear. this is going to be back to the drawing board in january for potentially a smaller or different bill, but the challenge here is senate majority leader chuck schumer said yesterday he wants to put all of this on the floor for a vote. that is simply going to, you know, reactivate this fight if you will. at the moment, the white house is more focused on covid than they are this stalled agenda. but, kate, stalled it is. as you know from covering the hill for many years, never declare anything dead because we don't know what next year will bring. kate? >> a whole bunch of zombies walking around, dead and alive at the same time. how we all feel at this point in the year. good to see you, jeff. thank you so much. joining me for more on this, what this year-end blowup meanings for joe biden, his presidency now, and next year, a staff writer with "the new yorker" author of "joe biden: the life, the run, and what matters." and tim naftali. evan, biden talked about uniting the country. if he ran on you nighting the country. he's now tasked with trying to unite his own party is kind of the themes we see throughout this negotiation. how does he do that? can he? >> in a way, i think that part of the challenge for him is that he was running at time where being the anti-trump was the defining element of his politics. and that was enough in a way to kind of paper over some of these deeper divides within his own party. and now as we get deeper into the term, these issues, the legislative demands as you heard from jeff zeleny are getting complicated. we're down to the fine points. those kinds of differences within the party are kind of blowing up. there was a time during the campaign, you remember, when aoc said if we were in another kind of political system, i wouldn't even be in the same sort of party with joe biden. that's how much ideological diversity there is. what you heard in the last couple days is he is more or less willing to go back into the trenches as is joe manchin and try to figure out where you go from here after you've blown up the latest attempt to try to reach a resolution. >> this is not how joe biden envisioned rounding out this first year of his presidency. this is a man who's seen dark days in his political career we know and seen very dark days in his personal life, not trying to equate those to kind of a legislative agenda. but what does joe biden do in these moments? because they're not -- they don't seem publicly -- they're not giving up on this joe manchin negotiation even though it seems a lot of people outwardly looking in seemed to think where are you finding hope here? >> yeah. this is, look, as close to a world view or almost a level of religion for joe biden. the idea of resilience is the core of his thing. there was a fascinating moment during the 2020 campaign when he was so close to bailing out of that race, actually, that one of his aides was tasked with the very unpleasant process of having to call him and say you may not succeed in this race and keep money in bank to close down the campaign. i asked how do you respond to that? he said i've lost bigger things than this in my life. that is the defining idea. he carries that with him. it doesn't allow him to be complacent but essentially gives him a basis for experience to say there will be a tomorrow and a day after that, and i've just got to keep soldiering on. >> tim, offer some historical perspective on this. there are very clear ups and downs in every president's time in office. what does history tell you or should tell everyone about what a challenging first year for a president means for the presidency? >> well, both ronald reagan and bill clinton reached lower lows in public approval in their second year. and of course they both bounced back, although they had very bad midterms, both of them. we don't have historical parallels, a modern one for a pandemic. the country is unsettled. and unless the fear is an external one, these moments do not lead to people rallying around their president. they blame their president in times when they're unsettled. since we don't know what covid has for us in the next few months, we can't really tell whether six months from now we'll feel like covid is an endemic problem, much milder that we can live with or it's an even worse variant. i think the president's fortunes depend on what the pandemic looks like in six months. and soldiering on is really his only approach at the moment. i think it's the only sound one and the only misor the cal one. >> you're getting at something i wanted to ask you about, tim, because inted your view if you thought biden's presidency is just -- no matter what the topic is, is entirely tethered to what happens with the pandemic and with covid, because if biden finds a way to make progress on the pandemic but we see -- let's say we see more inflation, gas prices keep rising, and he still struggles in the midterms coming up in the general election, do you still see that happening? >> well, people hold their presidents accountable and responsible if the tools they use to make our economy stronger and to make us feel more at ease fail. and right now, there's a debate among economists over whether the stimulus package fed the current inflation or whether the current inflation is just a product of the pandemic. if it's you a product of the pandemic, it's going to go away with the pandemic, perhaps in the middle of next year, in which case joe biden will be seen as hero. if on the other hand we overstimulated the economy and inflation is a real problem, then we'll see higher interest rates and joe biden and his party are going to be hit very hard next november. >> tim, good to see you. evan, thank you so much. coming up for us, at least 74 current or former u.s. military service members have been charged in the january 6th attack. now, the pentagon is taking urgent new steps to address extremism within its own ranks. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? 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"the new york times" is reporting that they're also potentially looking at wire fraud. look, kate, these kinds of crimes, and this would take a lot of evidence, something in the justice department, if they had a referral, would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. it's also important to note that the justice department is under no obligation to act on any criminal referrals that it receives from this committee. >> paula, thank you so much. appreciate it. also developing, the pentagon is taking new actions to address and root out and stop potential extremism within the ranks of the u.s. military. the context here, at least 74 active duty and veteran service members, were charged in the attack on the capitol. now three retired u.s. generals are sounding the alarm about another possible coup attempt in 2024. >> when you see all the signs that are out there, you have people like lieutenant governor mike flynn, you know, a guy with whom i served in iraq, who's advocating a coup after the election, we have 124 leaders that signed a letter believing the big lie, affidavit kafting the big lie that donald trump has told about the election results. evidently, they looked at the pillow guy as the authoritative source on election fraud. so to me that shows the weaknesses we have within our military to be consumed by political thoughts and ideations instead of thinking about our country. we love our country. we need to prepare now for the next coup. and that's why we wrote the article and why we're incredibly worried. >> cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon for more on this for us. barbara, talk to me about these new actions that the u.s. military is taking to tackle extremism within the ranks. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, kate, i think it's important to start with on january 6th, most of the arrests, the law enforcement actions that involve people with military ties were, in fact, against veterans. there were a very small number of national guard reserve and active duty. the military has had a persistent problem with extremism, but they continue to say at the pentagon it's relatively small numbers. now, that said, they have made a big effort here to try and put some precision on the extremism problem and say exactly what is allowed and was not allowed without impinging on free speech. look at some of the things that this new policy says. you cannot take extremist actions which would include recruiting, training, fund-raising, organizing, demonstrating or rallying. no active participation in extremist organizations. now, the pentagon does not name any particular organizations, but what it really focuses on is extremist actions. those are prohibited. and for the first time they're including social media, telling the troops they will be responsible for what their postings are on social media if it reflects active participation in those extremist groups. kate? >> barbara, thank you for that. still ahead for us, jurors have just begun a second day of deliberations in the trial of former minnesota police officer kim potter for the shooting of daunte wright. an update from the courthouse next. 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first off, we love each other... ♪ ♪ you are my fire ♪ ♪ the one desire ♪ ♪ you are, you are, ♪ ♪ don't wanna hear you say... ♪ ♪ ♪ i want it that way ♪ this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ - your mom's got to go! - she's family. she's using my old spice moisturize with shea butter and she's wearing my robe. mom: ahem ahem ahem we're out. people, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. they'll even pair you with an expert bookkeeper like me, who knows your business. knows your business! expert bookkeepers who understand your business. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. at this hour, a jury in minneapolis has begun a second day of deliberations in the trial of former police officer kim potter. potter is facing two counts of manslaughter in the shooting death of daunte wrig. she took the stand in her own defense last week, becoming very emotional at times. the question before the jury is did it help her case? cnn's adrienne broaddus has more on the deliberations. >> reporter: i'm adrienne broaddus in minneapolis and it's the second day of deliberations. members of the jury are trying to determine whether or not pot pot is guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. prosecutors argued on monday daunte wright was shot to death by a gun in the hands of a highly trained officer. prosecutors call that recklessly handling a firearm. by contrast, defense attorney earl gray said his client made a mistake. he also said daunte wright caused his own death. listen in to some of those arguments. >> daunte wright caused his own death, unfortunately. he could have taken him and thrown him against the car and put his knee on his neck. no. he said put your hands behind your back. i'm going to handcuff you. >> and this contention ta he caused his own death is fac factually wrong and legally wrong. it's factually wrong because very simply, as you saw, kim potter shot a bullet into his chest. >> reporter: about three hours into deliberations on monday, members of the jury had a question. they wanted to know when potter met with dr. miller. miller is the psychologist called by the defense. he talked about the action error concept. the judge did not give any specifics. meanwhile, members of the jury have access to the gun and the taser potter used. it's an opportunity for them to compare and contrast the two weapons. jury deliberations continue at this hour. >> coming up for us, the surge in new covid cases is straining hospital resources once again in many parts of the country. now what new data from the cdc tells us about the most at-risk population. that's next. but first, a new cnn film takes a look at a 50-year-long friendship that has had a remarkable impact on american music. here's a preview. >> when we first met and sat down to play, i don't remember what song, i don't think it was either of our songs, it might have been crosby, stills, and gnash, but we started playing and it was like we had played together our entire lives. we had a musical language in common. >> yeah. >> and, you know, we had listened to a lot of the same things, and pay lirnt di i didn't know this, but you had been listening to my songs, which i had written. so it was just an amazing connection. >> yeah, it was. it was immediate. an immediate thing. >> i just want to add, to this day, we cannot have played together for years and if we were to sit down right now, we could play together and just have that same thing. >> i think that you and i probably just have the same musical dna, musical sources, probably the same. a lot of that was just what people listened to during those days. of course a lot of what i had been listening to you was you because you were like a child prodigy starting so early. ten years of beautiful stuff by everyone. so at any given point, there were probably two or three carole king songs playing on the radio at any moment. >> yeah. >> tune in to the new cnn film "carole king and james taylor: just call out my name" premiering sunday january 2nd, 9:00 p.m. only on cnn. hone 13 p, and t-mobile is paying for them both! and this is for new and existing customers. upgrade to the iphone 13 pro and airpods both on us. only at t-mobile. as i observe investors balance risk and reward, i see one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. your strategic advantage. 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association and national center for assisted living, an organization that represents over 14,000 assisted living facilities. mark, thanks for coming back on. how can this be, this data that i just laid out? why aren't more people in nursing homes and the staff that are caring for them getting booster shots? >> well, kate, you're right. we need to do better, and we will. the good news is that we spent most of this year trying to encourage people to get the regular vaccine. we encountered much more vaccine hesitancy than we ever thought we would, but by working hard, we've been able to get the staff vaccination rate to almost 80%, and the resident vaccination rate to almost 90%. now we have to turn our attention to the boosters, and we've done that, and it's also starting to work. just a few weeks ago, the vaccine rate for residents was around the same 20% that it is in the general population. we now have 55% of the residents with a booster. it is our number one priority. we won't stop until we get to that 90% level we've been able to achieve with the regular vaccine. it is absolutely critical to get the booster whether you're in a nursing home, assisted living facility or just a resident in the general population. that's the only way we'll get through this. >> more broadly, how concerned are you about this omicron variant compared to the level of your concern already which was high about nursing home residents with the other variants? >> well, i'm extremely concerned. the data speaks for itself. it is highly contagious, doubling in the uk, doubling in south africa every two or three days. the silver lining appears to be that the cases are milder, but we don't have enough data yet to definitively say that. and we certainly don't know if it's mild or among our residents. the average age of a nursing home resident is 83. our residents have a lot of failies. so we're extremely concerned about it. we'll know a lot more in the next two or three weeks, but we are on high alert right now. >> if you have so many people who are still so vulnerable in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, we know of course one way to try to make sure that they are protected isd testing before anyone would come in to interact with them or interface with them or even care is rapid testing happening amongst assisted living facilities? what's the level of availability, because which know this is the focus of the president's today, and we know that there isn't enough testing available in the general population. >> yeah. well, fortunately in skilled nursing facilities and assisted living buildings, we now have most of what we need. the government has been really good at providing us testing. we now have the personal protective equipment that we didn't have all throughout 2020, so we're really in pretty good shape. if you think about this at a very high level. when we sat here a year ago exactly this week in december a year ago, we were at the absolute worst of the pandemic in nursing homes. over 30,000 residents getting infected. over 6,000 dying in a single week. as we sit here today one year later, cases are down over 85%. deaths are down over 90%, and nursing homes have become a safe place for older people to be. that's because residents, families, staff members, providers, the government and media people like you that have drawn attention to this matter have pulled together and gotten to us where we're at right now. it's not over. we're tired. a lot of people are burned out, but we just have to stick together because if we do i think just fight this a little bit longer, we'll be able to put this nightmare behind us. >> you can not give us. >> cannot give up. >> thanks so much, mark, for being here. >> you bet. sports leagues are also wrestling with how to handle the covid surge. the nhl solution is stop all games, at least until after christmas. cnn's brynn gingras has more on that decision and also how other leagues are dealing with this latest covid wave. >> reporter: packed stadiums, screaming fans, it seemed like the sports world was back in full swing. >> takes it in. >> but covid-19 and the highly contagious omicron variant proving to be team's toughest opponents yet, again threatening sports schedules and forcing leagues to quickly pivot their protocols so seasons can stay on track. >> i think we captain apply 2020 solutions to the 2021 problems that we're having. >> the nfl making a controversial call over the weekend to only test vaccinated players, coaches and staff who were showing symptoms of covid-19. it's a sharp shift from its previous protocols of requiring weekly testing. >> testing is a tool. it's a tool that can offer us certain things but it has certain limitations and i do think, as i said, have you to look at each era and each phase of the pandemic as to what the value of the testing is. >> league commissioner roger goodell calling it a targeted testing plan. some disagree. >> i think it's a terrible message of less testing for those communities in which these teams are pillars, and the role models for so many others snund the new rules, unvaccinated players must still test daily and high-risk players can opt out of the rest of the season without pay, but the approach undoubtedly mean assist. ic -- asymptomatic cases will slip detection. >> the pass is over the middle. >> the nfl essentially leaning on the fact that more than 949% of its players are fully vaccinated, and, therefore, it says likely safe from serious infection. adding in a memo omicron appears to be a very different illness from the one that we first confronted in the spring of 2020. >> i think that they are probably right as far as their people g.my concern is if everybody in the country makes that choice, you may see a whole lost cases and even if only a very small percentage of them are severe, that can stress and overwhelm an already overtaxed health care system. >> reporter: the move comes just days after the league was forced to postpone three weekend games and sideline dozens of players who tested positive at a crucial point of the season, just before playoffs. >> he scores! >> the nhl taking a more hands-on approach. the league ramping up its testing, temporarily pausing seasons for at least nine teams with surging covid cases and postponing all games that require teams crossing the u.s.-canadian border. >> as for the nba. >> we're kind of going day by day at moment. >> reporter: so far games have been postponed there, too, but the league is trying to soften blot for teams short on players because of positive cases by allowing replacement players to be added to their rosters. brynn gingras, cnn, new york. >> bryn-n, thank you so much. president biden will speak on the coronavirus. we'll have more on the new moves the white house is taking to fight the pandemic. that's next. get groceries, gifts, & more fast and easy. so last minute guests are the only thing you'll be waiting 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(cheers) xfinity brought us together, after all! power your whole home this holiday with wifi speeds faster than a gig. click, call, or visit a store today. sing 2 it's the top of the hour. hello, everyone. i'm kate balduan. we begin this hour with the president's fight against the pandemic. a short time from now he'll speak to the nation and lay out his plan for fighting the new winter surge. so far we know that plan will include expanding access to testing, making some 500 million at-home test kits available to americans as soon as next month. increased support for hospitals asking the pentagon to deploy troops to some of the hardest hit areas and stepping up vaccine capacity, including new pop yup sites for people to get shots. according to the white house, the president will also lay out two messages for two groups of americans, for the vaccinated and boosted, no need to cancel holiday plans, and for those who are not, they are putting their lives at even greater risk right now. >> from what we're seeing in south africa, it might turn out to be overall omicron being somewhat less severe, but, you know, everything is relative. en