prosecuted him and convicted him in the court of public opinion, and in the court of history. he's obviously a major political problem for the republican party and as long as he's out there attempting to wage war on american constitutional denl kra democracy, it's a problem for all of us. >> at the end of the day it wasn't more witnesses we needed, it was more senators with spines. that's what we saw. they lacked the fortitude. they were more concerned with their seat in power, afraid of donald trump's base, to be more concerned for our democracy, our constitution, the american government, and even the body of the senate. >> we were never going to reach 67 votes in the senate without mitch mcconnell voting guilty. so he went a bit on the floor afterwards. he basically gave the speech that jamie raskin would have given to the senate, and then tried to justify his vote for acquittal. >> i think senator mcconnell's speech, he got a load off his chest obviously. unfortunately, he put a load on the back of republicans. that speech you will see in 2022 campaigns. so i like him, senator mcconnell, he worked well with president trump. i think his speech is an outlier regarding how republicans feel about all this. >> all right. so what does all of this mean? we are nearly a month into the biden administration. his predecessor just got acquitted for the second time. as nbc's sahil kapur notes, the battle for the soul of the republican party seems to be over. donald trump has won. at least for now. there is a growing push from some former members of the gop to re-take the party. others are considering a new anti-trump conservative party. evan mcmullen is a former presidential candidate and trump critic. he told us on this program he intends to support primary programs against republicans who remain loyal to donald trump, including two gop congressmen in arizona, andy biggs and paul gosar. >> i think we are committed to taking a new route to either fight for the direction of the gop or to compete with it directly. >> now, whatever comes of that effort, democrats control both the white house and both houses of congress. the white house had little to say about the impeachment trial while it was going on. the administration kept very busy this week, advancing president biden's agenda. now that the trial is over, the president has congress's full attention again and, of course, the focus turns to covid. it's kind of wild to think we've been living and working and raising children and surviving during this pandemic for nearly a year now. just about everyone wants to know when we're going to get back to normal, or whatever is going to count as the new normal. by our count, the united states has nearly 28 million confirmed cases of covid-19 and we are approaching a half million deaths. but there is some good news surrounding the latest pandemic trends. cases and hospitalization rates are both at the lowest they've been in the u.s. since november. daily vaccination rates continue to go up. right now america is averaging almost 1 1/2 million shots per day. this week the biden administration finalized deals with pfizer and moderna for 200 million doses. this would be enough to vaccinate just about every american once they conquer the logistical challenges of deploying and administering the shots. let's start off tonight with nbc political correspondent ali vitale i and nbc white house correspondent geoff bennett. good to see you both. jeff, let me start with you. what is president biden's plan to refocus the country on the pandemic now that the trial is over? >> that's the keyword, refocus. and white house officials tell me that the president really is going to refocus the country's attention to the challenges we face and his plans for addressing all of them this coming week. and he's going to do it in a way he hasn't done it in the past as president. he's going to make his first domestic trip -- of course, he hasn't been able to do that given travel restrictions due to the pandemic. on tuesday he heads to milwaukee for a televised town hall. later thursday he goes to michigan where he's going to tour a pfizer facility that manufactures vaccinates. vaccines. we expect to hear more about the $2 trillion covid relief plan. that includes money for schools to reopen. remember, the biden administration wants to get as many schools open for in-instruction as possible by the end of his first 100 days. there are the direct payments to americans, that $1400 when if you add to the $600 qualifying americans received, it's $2,000 total. then there is also an extension of federal unemployment benefits. this has really been the urgent piece of this. when you heard people say, if this impeachment trial goes on for too long, it will really imperil the biden agenda. what they meant in the short term was that come march 14th, the coffers run dry and the federal unemployment benefits, they will no longer be extended. and so as house and senate democrats try to pass this relief bill through reconciliation, which is that sort of convoluted complex process where they do it with just democratic votes alone. >> right. >> that march 14th deadline has been hanging over all of it. so that's the thing that's focusing the minds of lawmakers and folks at the white house. >> speaking of focusing people's minds, ali, what about concerns about what the agenda would be following impeachment? i know there had been worry about derailing things, including within the democratic caucus once we refocused after the trial on actually getting a package of bills passed. >> yeah, just because we're done with impeachment doesn't mean that democrats are just going to band together and march in lockstep. we already saw that there were fissures within the democratic side of this. republicans aired their grievances with the white house and publicly in the early part of these covid negotiations. but once we went through the voterama, there were key items, for example, raising the minimum wage to $15. people like joe manchin have said they wouldn't support that. of course, on the other side of that coin you have senator bernie sanders who is really going to be aggressive, he had said and promised, in pushing that through. that's one of the things, though, that could fall off the table frankly and biden had alluded to this himself. because of the way that the reconciliation process works. i would say, though, that when we saw the budget score come out on this, it did show that there would be an impact to the bottom line of the federal deficit. that's actually the key here. it's something that republicans might use as a cajole for why they don't want to see something like this go through, but that's the kind of thing someone like bernie sanders needed to prove that he could push this through, through a reconciliation process. if this doesn't go through as part of the covid relief bill, this will be something that rears its head again potentially in the next few weeks and months. wage isn't something they want to push through. there was another reason democrats were concerned about what impeachment might mean for the biden agenda. all of this is really fertile ground for laying the groundwork. yes, in the early days of the biden administration, because political currency doesn't last very long around here. but it's also fertile groundwork for the midterms. i know that 2022 seems very far away, but the reality of impeachment and the early days of the biden administration is it sets the tone. republicans are going to be fighting among themselves because trump is going to try to be out on the campaign trail. they're arguing over what their party should look like. you were talking with evan mcmullen, someone who is going to be primarying people who supported trump and trying to punish people who didn't support trump. democrats are going to have to leverage the work they've done in the early days of the biden administration and any frustration that might be out there among voters who may want -- may have wanted to see trump held accountable for what he did on january 6. all of this is part and parcel. the politics are percolating in the background as we head into midterm season which i know feels far away, but it's not. >> do we have -- i'm sure you just gave some people real -- talking about another -- no, no, we just finished one. no, not right now. let us breathe. with regards to policy rather than politics, geoff, one of the people we heard from today is the head of the centers for disease control and prevention. she was on "meet the press" with chuck todd this morning. here's part of what she said in terms of the administration's messaging on covid going forward. >> it is encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they're coming down from extraordinarily high place. and as i said earlier, if we want to get our children back to school and i believe we all do, it all depends on how much community spread is out there. we need to all take responsibility to decrease that community spread, including mask wearing so that we can get our kids and our society back. >> geoff, one of the things i noticed chuck said to the doctor was it's nice to just have the head of the cdc out here so we can talk to this person. it's been hard to do for the last year or so. >> yes. >> talk about how the administration is going to be talking to the american people about covid. >> and we should say with these school reopening guidelines, i'm told by cdc staffers that they were drafted entirely by cdc career staffers, which sounds like sort of a basic thing. but it's not given what we know about the last four years of the trump administration. i'm told by folks who work there they really had to deal with political pressure, direct explicit political pressure from the trump administration. so now president biden has made a stated goal within the first 100 days, he wants as many schools open for in-person instruction as possible. so he's setting a metric by which the american people can now judge him. and as part of that, you have a number of schools that haven't already opened waiting for direct guidance from the cdc. of course, the american academy of pediatrics had put out guidance. the cdc under the trump administration put out sort of basic guidance. but now what you have is a very sort of clear directive from the cdc that says, if the community spread in your area is x, then your school should open by, you know, under these sort of instructions and restrictions. and that's the sort of thing i think a lot of school districts had been clamoring for, just to get some basic guidance, free from political interference about how they should best reopen their schools, and do it in a way that's safe for students and teachers to return. >> ali, what is our best sense of the time line going forward in terms of what happens in congress? we should note i believe the senate is off this week. the house has some committee hearings. there are some hearings on some rather consequential matters. there is a hearing this week about the gamestop trading, the c.e.o. of robinhood is supposed to testify before one house committee. >> right. >> what should we be keeping an eye out for this week? >> i think that's one of the things i'm looking forward for. so much was made of gamestop and the way that these redditers were able to manipulate the market. i think it caught everyone's attention because people were so confused at first as to what was going on. that's going to be one of the things that's tackled this week. but i think also we saw the contours of some key parts of the relief bill come out last week. the house has been having two workweeks. last week and this coming week. so we could see some more contours coming out there. i think the key things were the child tax credit that was rolled out initially as well as setting the metrics for who was eligible to get those $1,400 direct relief payments. there was a lot of debate about where those thresholds would be set. last week we saw that they were set at 75,000 and 150,000. that's done part of the covid relief bill. what geoff set out was important. march 14 is the cut off here. i know nancy pelosi and steny hoyer have said they thought they were going to try to get a bill on the floor of the house sometime in the coming week. i think it's next week when the house comes back in session. that's a good time line. it felt optimistic at the time because we were heading into impeachment, though now that impeachment is over it does feel like everyone is on the same page and just wanting to get back on track with this and get it done, because everyone has to go home to their constituents and answer for where those checks are. >> nbc political correspondent ali vitale and nbc white house correspondent geoff bennett, we appreciate you starting us off this hour. thanks very much. donald trump may be acquitted in the senate, but he faces criminal and civil cases across the country. a former federal prosecutor will walk us through them. also what about a larger congressional investigation into what exactly happened on january 6th? nbc's ken dilanian will break that down for us. and later, dr. kavita patel will answer your questions about covid, the different strains popping up, and the vaccines. and we will tell you about a campaign to recall california governor gavin newsom. organizers say they have enough signatures to trigger an election. what will this mean for our most populous state and the nation? that's on "the week" on msnbc. . oh, sorry... 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>> so, trump probably has more to worry about from state prosecutors than from federal prosecutors. georgia prosecutors have a legitimate beef against trump. he tried to nullify georgia's legitimate votes from county in the presidential election, and so the atlanta district attorney is conducting a wide-ranging investigation. she's looking at crimes like solicitation of election fraud, false statements, and even racketeering. trump told the georgia secretary of state, "find 11,780 votes." and then he said, and there's nothing wrong with saying that you recalculated. that's pretty incriminating and it's on tape. in new york, both the manhattan d.a. and the state's attorney general are following trump's money, and that usually does not workout well for him. >> what do you make of the way that that in particular was discussed during the impeachment trial? does that have any bearing on these other prosecutions? i think at least to hear the way that his defense attorneys were describing what he meant by "find," i thought, you better be glad you're not in a courtroom because i don't think you have any evidence to back up the claim what he meant by the word "find." that didn't go the way defense attorneys wanted, but does one bear on the other at all? >> here's the thing. the issue with any criminal case is trump's intent. and i thought the house managers did an excellent job of proving his criminal intent in the impeachment trial, that he knew or there was a high chance that those remarks that he had been making for weeks were going to incite the crowd. but that didn't persuade the senate. well, joshua, here's the thing. juries in atlanta or new york city are not going to be nearly as sympathetic to the president or former president as the republican senators. >> what's your sense of what the department of justice might do in terms of possibly investigating the former president? obviously there is a huge concern about the appearance of political involvement with the d.o.j., which is exactly one of the things that president biden said he would positively not subject merit garland too as attorney general nor the fbi director christopher wray. >> so, trump does have federal criminal exposure for inciting the insurrection, allegedly or allegedly obstruction of justice in the mueller investigation, or shaking down the ukrainians for political favors. remember, the first impeachment, it's all up to the new attorney general who is likely to be merit garland. joshua, i think federal charges are unlikely for two reasons. first, the criminal standard for conviction is much higher than for impeachment. and prosecutors are not going to bring a case against a former president unless it's a slam dunk. and the second reason is the one that you identified. president biden is properly staying out of this. he's leaving it to merit garland because he doesn't want to do the "lock him up" thing against biden that trump did against hillary clinton. but the vibe he's sending is that the biden administration wants the country to move on past trump. and that's why i think trump has more to worry about from these state investigations than from the federal investigations. >> your point about the slam dunk is well taken. i'm not convinced the justice department deems it within its guidance to bring prosecution against a former president let alone a seated president. there are two questions i'd like to get to. mary with an i and mary with a y. she asked, is there any chance capitol rioters could join together in a class action lawsuit against trump for entrapment? entrapment is when a person commits a crime because they were coerced into it by a government official. isn't trump liable for the legal and other expenses incurred by the rioters who were coerced into committing their crimes by the country's chief law enforcement officer? professor? >> i think there will certainly be civil litigation against trump for his role in inciting the insurrection. entrapment is a defense to a crime. it's typically not a tort or a reason to bring a lawsuit. but certainly as these criminal cases against the rioters wind their way through the system, i expect that we'll also see a number of civil lawsuits. not so much from the insurrectionists, but from the victims, including the families of police officers and other people who were inadvertently swept up in this madness. >> last quick question. mary or mari, perhaps, asks, can the rioters sue trump for damages with regard to their legal cases and any injuries occurring on january 6th? professor? >> no, or the technical answer is, yes, they can sue, but they would lose. again, trump's complicity, aiding and abetting, the impeachment he wasn't found accountable. civil litigation is recovering damages, but no jury is going to be sympathetic to these white supremacist insurrectionists who attacked the capitol of the united states trying to undermine our democracy. >> yes, suing for your damages while you are attacking congress, that's not going to be a good look in court. georgetown professor paul butler, i appreciate your time. thank you, sir. >> always a pleasure. >> after the senate acquitted donald trump, focus shifted back to the january 6th insurrection. some are calling for a special 9/11-style commission to investigate it. that is next. is next (woman) what should we do with it first? 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what was known, who knew it and when they knew it, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again in the future. >> senator cassidy was one of the seven gop senators who voted to convict the former president. how might this probe work? and how committed will congress be as a whole to investigating the riot? let's discuss it with nbc national security and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian. ken, tell us what's being proposed in this commission and what the broad outlines of it might be. >> hey, joshua, you're absolutely right. voices as diverse as house speaker nancy pelosi and republican senator lindsey graham are calling for this kind of a commission to investigate what happened and what they're asking for is something similar to the 9/11 commission, which was a creation of congress. you get prominent people from both sides of the political aisle and they get a staff and money to investigate, and they would potentially have subpoena power. now, of course, joshua, congress is capable of doing these large and complex investigations. in fact, the senate intelligence committee report on the trump/russia matter was more informative and more detailed than the mueller report. but this capitol riot spawns -- sorry, spans so many different jurisdictions. there are intelligence questions, there are law enforcement questions, questions about the fbi, d.h.s., the department of defense. a commission, advocates of this say it would make more sense and allow congress to do its legislative business while this commission is working in the background, because there are really so many huge unanswered questions, principally around what did the fbi know, what intelligence existed, why wasn't there more security as senator cassidy said, what did the capitol police know. why was there a delay, and biggest question, joshua, what did the president know and when did he know it as the violence was unfolding. >> what is your sense of the possibility of this moving forward or how it might move forward? it was one of the things that came up during the trial where some republicans said, no, no, no, we need not convict donald trump, but we need a larger probe, a bigger investigation that should have been done before we got to this point. what is the path for that look like, especially considering that the capitol is still extra secure right now? the barricades haven't come down from around capitol hill yet. >> yeah, that's right. and that's one of the reasons i think there is such an impetus for this. in some ways, january 6th was the domestic terrorism version of 9/11, thankfully without the high death count. it was a shock to the system. no one imagined something like that happening, and we're now seeing in the court record there was a vanguard, a 10% of the people who have been charged are members of these right wing militias who clearly made plans and planned this long in advance. and another large group of people who were acting more spontaneously. there's a lot to learn from all of that, and so there's been really impetus on both sides of the political aisle how it would work mechanically. they would have to pass legislation, they would have to fund it and it would take many months, if not more than a year to get these answers. because you're absolutely right. both sides agree they didn't build a historical record in this trial. they laid out essentially a narrative based on video and media reports. they didn't interview witnesses, they didn't subpoena people. there are still so many huge questions that both sides would like to get answered. and it may make different agencies and different constituencies and may expose some flaws. people think that we really need answers here because, bottom line is, they never want anything like this to happen again, joshua. >> we have a few viewer questions, one of which in particular i wanted to put to you in terms of who told whom what when in terms of just the time line of how that day went down. one viewer asks, did they ever verify whether the secret service communicated to the white house they were evacuating pence? and if so, when? it was implied the secret service wasn't doing its usual job or following protocol. i doubt that. ken, i doubt that, too. very highly because, a, that's a total dereliction of everybody's duty through the security chain and b., he has to be within striking distance in case something happens to the president. they must have told both ends. there's no way they couldn't have. >> the state of the reporting on this, joshua, is that when mike pence was whisked away under threat of violence by the secret service in the capitol, that the secret service would have told the white house about that. but no one has actually confirmed that that call was made. the secret service hasn't commented. people inside the white house have not confirmed it. it's unimaginable it wouldn't have happened. but even if you leave that aside, you have the phone call between president trump and senator tuberville where tuberville confirmed that pence was in danger and so at that point president trump was on notice that his vice-president was in mortal danger, and yet he continued to egg on the rioters and not call for them to stand down until sometime after that. and that's what people are focusing on, joshua. >> i'm going to skip the second question and go to the third one. another viewer asks, is it a a feasible consideration that if trump had been convicted that this could have generated more immediate retaliation from his violent followers? ken, i think that's one of the concerns that kind of has hung over this whole process is whether or not those who are on the farthest right fringes might use whatever happened at the trial as an excuse for more violence to popov. pop-off. >> that's what i'm hearing from law enforcement and national security forces. that's why as you noted there is such a continued presence of security around the capitol. there are threats to the inauguration. there are continued threats. in some ways, some of those hard right extremists were emboldened by what happened january 6th and they may be further emboldened by the acquittal. had he been convicted, there could have been violence, but one thing that's different now that wasn't happening before january 6 is the massive, massive fbi investigation into many of these far-right extremists. so in that sense, some of them are on their heels, joshua. >> thank you, ken. that's nbc national security and justice correspondent ken dilanian with the latest for us. how can america reopen schools safely as we fight covid-19? 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(sam) 5g ultra wideband, now in parts of many cities. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. the cdc has new guidelines for reopening schools safely during the pandemic. those guidelines are apparently making some parents and teachers nervous. this evening the cdc's new director, dr. rochelle walensky, addressed those concerns in a tweet. quote, we are not mandating that schools reopen. these recommendations simply provide schools a long needed road map for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community, unquote. nbc's blayne alexander has more. >> reporter: it's the long awaited guidance from the cdc, getting kids safely back in classrooms. but after reading it, shauna is even more concerned. >> my initial reaction was it's taking us five steps backwards. this is going to be a real impediment to getting kids back in the classrooms. >> reporter: jessica allen want today hear more about ventilation. >> i'm frustrated. because i'm holding into the hope there will be clear actionable guidance coming out. >> reporter: and keri rodriguez is hopeful but cautious. >> it's wonderful to get this guidance, but if the guidance is not implemented, it doesn't mean anything at all. >> reporter: as for teachers? >> it would have been great to have this ten months ago. >> it is a relief. >> reporter: guidance includes implementing a color coding system to determine which schools should be opened based on how covid is spreading in the community. in the classroom, districts should make masks, hand washing and social distancing a focus. all common practice during the pandemic, but it's the first time the agency has said they should be prioritized in schools. notably missing, vaccines. while encouraged, the cdc says they are not mandatory. but in the nation's second largest school district, that is not enough. the los angeles teachers union calls the omission troubling. writing, the guidelines do not do enough to address the specific challenges of large urban school districts. does this guidance go far enough? >> well, look, this guidance is a floor, not a ceiling, but it's a huge change from what we've had before. we had been seeking credible, scientific guidance for ten months now. >> reporter: in marion county, tennessee, these new guidelines are top of the agenda for monday's board meeting. members will consider whether to tailor their policy requiring masks at all times, not just when changing classes. >> we've known going into it our plan was going to be a very fluid plan. >> reporter: bottom line? >> i think these guidelines are a game changer to a certain extent because i think for the first time they've gotten more than just kind of vague recommendations, vague suggestions on what to do. they've gotten specifics. >> that was nbc's blayne alexander reporting. up next we'll answer more of your questions about covid, including on the vaccines. dr. kavita patel joins us for our latest installment of "dear dr. ." that's ahead. stay close. stay close and talk about how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? uhhh... yes. huh... what happens in this one? seagulls. oh, i like it. how are you doing? (seagulls sounds) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ where can a healthier heart lead you? for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. entresto helped people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. my grandfather had an amazing life, or high blood potassium. but ancestry showed me so much more than i could have imagined. my grandfather was born in a shack in pennsylvania, his father was a miner, they were immigrants from italy and somewhere along the way that man changed his name and transformed himself into a successful mid-century american man. he had a whole life that i didn't know anything about. he was just my beloved grandpa. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com introducing a revolution in the world of pain relief: new advil dual action. advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen. covid cases rose after our holiday travel helped the virus spread. now infections are declining again. over the past 14 days, nearly all states have seen a slight decrease in cases. this morning cdc director rochelle walensky said this trend depends on us doing our part. >> it's encouraging seeing these trends coming down but they're coming down from an extraordinarily high place. and as i said earlier, if we want to get our children back to school, and i believe we all do, it all depends how much community spread is out there. we need to all take responsibility to decrease that community spread, including mask wearing, so that we can get our kids and our society back. >> despite the decrease in cases, the u.s. could pass a half million coronavirus deaths within the next few days. let's get to some more of your covid-19 questions with dr. kavita patel, msnbc medical contributor and former obama white house health policy director. dr. patel, good evening. >> good evening, joshua. >> i understand you have a valentine's day poem for us. >> yes. i thought it was fitting today. roses are red, violet are blue, i'm really sick of covid, how about you? i think that sums up how a lot of us feel these days. >> i agree, and i feel loved at the same time. i would love for you to help us answer some of these questions, particularly new questions about the vaccines. one viewer wants to know what the the status of the astrazeneca vaccine? other countries are using it. when will it be approved in the u.s.? and if given a chance to be in a trial in the u.s. would that be better than waiting four months for one of the others? two-part question. what is the status of the astrazeneca vaccine and what about taking part in a vaccine trial? >> it's a great question. first part, we are in the middle of phase three in the united states for the astrazeneca vaccine. so that phase has to be completed and the data has to be analyzed. so we're talking, joshua, months. it's not going to be weeks, it will be months. and then in terms of the second part of the question, i'm a big fan of research and science, and i think participating in a trial should be your decision. but it's not an either/or. i think it's absolutely something you can participate in a trial now and talk to the trial researchers that if your turn comes to get the vaccine, what do they recommend. they are ready for these questions and they're also trying to make sure that nobody is denied the opportunity to receive one of the authorized vaccines. we only have two right now, joshua, but that number will increase over time. >> another viewer asked about the current covid tests, whether they can detect the variants of covid we've been hearing about. >> yeah, yes. the short answer is yes. and it's because really what the tests are looking for is copies are the rna, the genetic material of the coronavirus. and you can actually look at the copies and look for those mutations that we talked about, b 117, b 1351. interestingly, some researchers have found that the absence, that each of these rna look like a fingerprint. absence of pieces of the fingerprint can be a clue to telling what the variants might be. yes, we do have ways to check for it. >> lori asks, i have been trying to understand what the percentage means when referring to the vaccine. 95% effective means 5% of the people vaccinated can still get it but not severely, 60% for the johnson & johnson means 40% can get it? what is the percent have to do with the severity that this vaccine protects you from getting severe symptoms they say, doctor? >> joshua, this is the most common question and a great one that lori asks. the percentage of efficacy really refers to the risk reduction of getting symptomatic or severe covid-19. population that is not vaccinated, so the absolute numbers are literally, like, 7 among 10,000 people who are vaccinated will get severe covid, not 5% or 5 of 100, so it's much better news than the percentages might lead you to believe. the most important percentage is really the fact that the johnson & johnson vaccine as you mentioned, they get an 85% reduction of severe disease. and that's really what we're looking for. remember, these trials were set up to look for an ability to stop severe disease and death. and then everything else symptomatic, mild, moderate illness has also been decreased because of the vaccine. but it's a relative risk reduction. >> donna wants to know, once you get the covid vaccine how long will you be protected? also, when your protection wears off, will you be able to get another vac seep or do you have to wait until everyone is vaccinated? >> great question. donna, the ceo of moderna intimated their immunity can last for years. but the truth is that across all the vaccines we don't know. we expect it to be at least months, but we're looking at people like me who got vaccinated in december, pretty early and people are trying to measure how long our immunity lasts. the question of if you need to get a second vaccine or a booster, i do think we're looking at an annual or seasonal vaccine. that's something we have gotten used to with the flu, but we're trying to figure out how to deal with the variants we're seeing. >> i'm going to ask if we can flip our last two questions in order because sara has a question that has to do with something that came up in the last few days. please explain why kn95 masks are better or not than surgical masks or double surgical masks. i thought kn95 superior because it's a tight seal. true? false? can we talk about what we know about masks right now, particularly after hearing research that double masking is 90% effective at blocking covid-19. what do we need to know about masks right now? >> yeah. here's what we know. those surgical masks with the blue and the little loops around it that if you put that around and put a fabric mask over it, so essentially a double mask, which adds up to six layers, that that can get you even higher potentially than 95%, which is amazing. if you can't do that because sometimes it is not comfortable, your face or if you wear glasses, you can still wear the surgical mask and tie little loops on the side. that can also be much better than just the surgical mask by itself. the kn95 means that it's not approved like the n95s are by the fda. however, and you have to make sure that you weren't getting one of the brands that's flagged by the fda for being counter fit or fake, but if you can get a kn, 95, it filtered out 95% of the particles. so a kn95 can be hard for some people to wear for several hours, joshua. so that double masking might be your best way to go. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. and if you still have questions about the vaccine, our parent company, comcast nbc universal has a new website for you. we are excited about this. it is called plan your vaccine. it's got what you need to know about getting vaccinated, including information for different states, information if you have high risk health conditions or if you are an essential worker. you will find it online at planyourvaccine.com. from one of the warmest weeks on record to the coldest. we'll check the weather and the climate next. makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for thirty six months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. hey, you have to wash jason alexander hoodie. for thirty six months. that looks clean to me. is it though? 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