america, just 5% are delta. the skyrocketing case numbers have prompted some governors to call in help from the national guard. ohio did the same on monday, and maryland yesterday. and there is big news at one of the largest school districts in the country, starting today chicago public school classes are canceled for more than 340,000 kids after the teachers' union voted last night to switch to remote. let's dig in right there. nbc's mara barrett in chicago, sam brock is in florida where cases are increasing faster than anywhere else in the country, and with us to explain it all, dr. richard besser, the former acting cdc director, president and ceo of the robert wood foundation and a pediatrician. dr. besser, i want to start with omicron now making up 95% of all new covid cases. is that a good thing? because it's a lot less deadly than delta. >> it's a hard question to answer as a good or bad thing. it is what we're faced with, and i do think that there are aspects of this that could be promising. the promising idea is that if omicron whips through our nation, and more people are exposed to a milder infection, if that omicron infection provides some protection for you from future strains, this could be the path out of this. the reason i don't say it's an overwhelmingly good thing is that this is putting incredible strain and stress on our health care system. we're seeing hospitals around the nation that are overflowing, health care workers who are just being stressed to the max and past the max, and that is a problem not just for people who have covid but as we've seen throughout the pandemic, people who have heart disease and cancer and diabetes, they're not able to get into the hospital, and so the more we can do to slow this down and blunt how big this peak is in terms of hospitalizations, the more we're going to be able to save lives not just from covid but from other conditions that require medical care. >> take us to chicago. as of this morning, 340,000 kids not going to school. the decision was not made by the governor, it was not made by the mayor. it was not made by an education head or the board of education. the teacher's union? >> reporter: right, steph, when the teachers came back with their students on monday from winter holiday break, they were still not pleased with the safety conditions that are in chicago public schools right now. they've been very expressive about this through the entire pandemic. this has been a major point of contention between the teachers union and the public school system and the mayor quite frankly, so the teachers late last night voting against the approval -- without the approval of the school district to go fully remote, and cps responded by canceling all classes today, so steph, that means that parents and students were waking up this morning learning that classes were canceled. some parents not knowing if they have child care if they can't send their children to school. this is obviously a big blow right now here in chicago. the latest in this saga between -- at the school district. the mayor clearly very frustrated, expressing in a press conference last night that this would ultimately be harmful for students health and their learning. i want to hear a little bit from both the mayor and the superintendent of schools here. >> leadership is compelling its membership to make a decision that will harm hundreds of thousands of chicago families who rely upon cps for their daily needs. >> at this point the misinformation and anxiety is so high there is no logic behind it. there's no science behind it, and but fear is fear, right? i can't control -- i can't automatically press a button and have people's fears gone. >> reporter: now, the school district and the public health commissioner continually point at data saying that schools are actually the safest place for children to be, but i think it's important to note, though, in terms of vaccination rates younger students age 5 to 11, younger kids in the city of chicago, only 24% of them are vaccinated. the cps student population in general, it's under a third. 91% of teachers are vaccinated, but that is cause for concern. obviously as we're seeing how contagious the spread of omicron is. on that misinformation point, the teacher's union held a pretrial conference conference this morning after voting responding to the mayor's frustration. i want to hear one teacher's perspective about why she's not exactly worried about misinformation but as something else. >> as an educator, i'm not afraid of misinformation. i am afraid because i have a husband. i have a young child, i have a 90-year-old grandmother with underlying health conditions and issues, so i would just appreciate being able to work in an environment where at least the students are all pcr tested weekly and we have their results. >> reporter: so all classes learning, athletic events at chicago public schools are canceled today, steph, but the school buildings do remain open for children who need to get their meals at school and admin and staff who do wish to come in and work. the school district saying they should have a plan by later this afternoon on how to conduct remote learning going forward, steph. >> that teacher mentioned pcr tests. does the teachers union have specific asks? because the city already spent $100 million to reoutfit and make the schools safer. what's missing? >> reporter: well, the problem is, steph, and i've been reporting on this throughout the school year, right, is that testing, something that teachers asked for wasn't as firmly implemented as the public school system said that it would be at the beginning of the year. and that's clearly continued when they're asking for pcr testing weekly. the school district, though, is allocating more money to making sure they're getting hundreds of thousands of kn95 masks to provide in schools. they've spent millions updating their air filtration systems, they're going to be spending another 100 million plus in the summer of 2022. it's unclear what that spending will go towards. overall the teachers still saying between the vaccination rates, the fact that they can't social distance adequately in classrooms and the lack of availability of testing and masks are their biggest concerns right now, steph. >> doctor, a lot of this comes down to a risk management assessment and math. we want people to be safe, but being 100% safe is not realistic, and at the same time, we know the damage done to kids by not being in school, the parents who can't get to work. do you think that closing schools at this point is the right decision given the risks? >> no, stephanie, this is really challenging. as a parent, as a pediatrician, i know the best place for children is in school learning, and the idea that keeping kids out of school reduces their risk is not based on data. what we've seen there across the pandemic so far is that for many children the safest place for them to be is in school, but i do hear that teacher when she's talking about her individual situation, and so a one size fits all approach isn't going to work here. a teacher who is living at home with someone who is at great risk or at markedly increased risk for severe disease, someone who's very elderly, someone who's immunocompromised needs to be able to factor that in in terms of her decision to work in the classroom or to work remotely, and so i feel that. i feel that tension from a societal perspective. we really need to get our kids into school, but we need to make sure that schools are doing all they can to keep teachers and staff as safe as possible. it's not to get to a zero risk, but you want to make sure that ventilation has been approached, that there's a requirement for vaccination, that you are doing social distancing, and you would like to see testing protocols in place, whether it's, you know, a once a week rapid test or pcr testing, but we do see across the nation major shortages in terms of the ability to test, which puts stress on all of this. i do think over the next two weeks we're going to see more and more schools closing. they will be challenged in terms of the number of teachers and staff who are healthy and able to continue in the classroom. there's going to be a period here where most schools are not going to be able to pull it off. >> take us to florida. cases there are off the charts, and anecdotally people say omicron you don't get that sick. if you're vaccinated it's not that big of a deal. the hospital where you're at has more covid patients than it ever has in the last year and a half. what's going on? >> reporter: that's very true. florida's seeing the largest percentage increase, stephanie, since the really start of the pandemic here. a 700% increase. that's the biggest in the country. hospitalizations are up 250%, give or take, over the last couple of weeks. so comparatively less. deaths are actually down, steph, in florida, 40%. i will add a caveat, the florida numbers tend to lag a little bit on the death front. if you look for a frame of reference on this, at the height of the pandemic, 17,000 people were hospitalized with covid in florida. right now that's about 7,000, so less than half. you mentioned the hospital i'm at, jackson health, largest public hospital in miami-dade county, they're seeing 471 patients with covid-19, but 53% of them came to the hospital with something other than covid and ended up testing positive for covid. the issue right now is not available hospital beds. according to the florida hospital association president, the problem right now is staffing. they are seeing in her words, a can of gasoline being poured on top of an already blazing covid fire. that's how she describes it right now, attrition, health care, front line workers are getting sick. they do not have the number of people to take care of those who are getting sick. as one more example, i point to what's going on about 45 minutes away from where i am at fort lauderdale, where they had to close down a hospital there, holy cross, a labor and delivery unit, not because of available beds but because of critical staffing shortages. they needed that personnel throughout the hospital in other areas. >> i want to bring in colorado governor jared polis. thank you for joining us. colorado covid cases are up 230% in the last two weeks. the positivity rate has tripled in that time. you've said recently that the emergency of covid is over. do you still believe that? >> yeah, i thought that was excellent reporting from florida. we're seeing a similar thing here. cases up a lot, hospitalizations up a little bit. again, mostly the unvaccinated, but we are finding with omicron it absolutely is more contagious with those who are vaccinated. they're getting minor cases. those who are unvaccinated can still get cases that leave them in the hospital and unfortunately they're not all going to make it. >> the governor of florida says you can take precautions or not, but at this point in the covid cycle, it is on you. is that basically where you stand? >> i think getting vaccinated is the most important thing. if you are vaccinated, the risk is low. now, look, if you're vaccinated but you have immuno conditions or you're in your 70s or 80s, you're still going to want to be careful. you're going to want to make sure to especially wear a mask around others indoors. this is such a highly contagious variant, and it's spreading like wildfire. those who are vaccinated get minor cases and those who aren't this can be deadly and put you in the hospital. i really hope this is a wake-up call for those who are unvaccinated to give it another look. saying you know what, given this new data, i'm going to protect myself. >> i want to ask you about the fire in boulder county last week. the last we heard two people were missing. we haven't heard a status on those two or any word on the cause. what's the latest? >> so first of all, in a fire of this size and this speed with 105 mile an hour winds, it's really nothing short of miraculous that there's only two people missing. there were literally -- and i heard from and met with families that fled through the inferno, homes burning on both sides in their car with everything they had to get out. this happened over the course of a few hours, many people had three minutes, five minutes to evacuate their homes, and our hearts are with them. for families across the country who want to help, you can go to coloradogives.org and click on the wildfire relief fund. >> i want to ask you before you go about your decision to step in and reduce the sentence for a man who was convicted in a fatal crash that killed four people. he dropped his 110-year sentence, which a lot of people agreed was extreme, down to just ten years, but here's the thing. there was a new sentencing hearing set for next week. why didn't you let the process play out? instead you substituted your opinion for the judge's? why did you do that? >> that's right. the judge was forced to give 110 year sentence. first of all, this individual is guilty. he will go to jail. it was reckless driving. it caused the loss of life of four other people, but 110 year punishment is more than people get for homicide or murder. what we did is we simply looked up similar punishments for similar crimes, and we said, look for the crime he committed, this reckless driving that led to death, in our state of colorado people serve an average of about ten-year sentences, and so we reduced his sentence to ten years rather than let this drama play out, which unfortunately was undermining confidence in the entire justice system. >> governor, thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, the newly released text that fox news anchor sean hannity sent about donald trump in the days leading up to the capitol attack. why was hannity afraid? plus, how many americans believe biden legitimately won the election and how many are concerned about the future of our democracy? 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that is a tall order? >> reporter: the committee is asking, they have not yet subpoenaed sean hannity. they are asking for him to come speak to the committee. they say that they have information about his communications with the former president and people close to the former president leading up to and on january 6th and perhaps after as well. the committee released some of those text messages that they have obtained including one text message on december 31st to the former president's former chief of staff, mark meadows that says we can't lose the entire white house counsel's office. i do not see january 6th happening the way he has been told. after the 6th he should announce he will lead the nationwide effort to inform voting integrity. go to florida and watch joe mess up daily. stay engaged when he speaks, people will listen. and then six days later on january 5th, there was another text message from sean hannity where he says that he is worried about how the next 48 hours will go. now, we do know -- so that proves that sean hannity was concerned about it. now, on sean hannity's show on the night of january 6th, he did condemn the violence, but he did question who, in fact, was behind it. now, the attorney representing sean hannity put out a statement saying they are evaluating the letter from the committee. they remain very concerned about the constitutional implications, especially as it relates to the first amendment. we will respond as appropriate. so no official action yet from sean hannity and his team, but that's not the only big news of the january 6th select committee. as you mentioned, bennie thompson wants to hear from the former vice president mike pence. we know his life was in danger that day. he resisted pressure from the former president to overturn the election results. now, listen to how bennie thompson said it on cnn. >> his life was in danger. i would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee. we'd like to know what his security detail told him was going on. >> reporter: people close to mike pence have been working with the committee or engaging with the committee at least including his former chief of staff mark short, so this isn't over, there's a lot more information and a lot more the committee plans to do. >> steve, we got a lot of polls out there about january 6th and where our country is at now. what stood out to you? >> yeah, a couple of things. a lot of numbers this week. just attitudes towards how people think about january 6th. this was a usa today suffolk poll. do you think of it more as a protest that was trying to overturn a legitimate election. you see 53% saying that or a protest to prevent a fraudulent election, you see 29% who chose that. there are some who were undecided or unsure about this. that's why the numbers don't add up to 100. what's striking about this is the massive partisan gap in how people answered this question. when you asked this of democrats, you see it here 85 to 8 saying they were trying to overturn the election. you ask this of republicans, and you see a majority, 56% who say this was a protest trying to prevent a fraudulent election. even more stark partisan gap on the question of what to do going forward. you talk about the house committee investigating january 6th here, how do you think about it? is it important for the future of our democracy. 53% choosing that. 42% saying it's basically a waste of time, and again, the partisan gap on this is just one world here, one world there, nearly 90% of democrats say it's important for the future of democracy to have that committee, nearly 80% of republicans say it is a waste of time. interestingly, there is one area where both parties do converge, and that is when you ask people this question here, how worried are you about the future of america's democracy? you see overwhelmingly people are saying they are worried, they're very worried or somewhat worried about it. that cuts across party lines. democrats more than 80%, republicans more than 80%. independents more than 80%. they all say, stephanie, they are worried about democracy. i think when you dig a little deeper and ask why they're worried about democracy, obviously some very different concerns there depending on which party you're talking about. >> and the more days that pass, people aren't thinking about this, but it's a serious threat. chris, there's a new report from the atlanta council that found that domestic extremism became more local after the riot. is the threat just as bad now but it's less in your face? >> well, so what we saw on january 6th was only the beginning of what's become a violent insurrection, and when i use these words, i want to be clear this is not hyperbole. what the insurrection was was an attempt by a violent group to achieve political ends. that's the definition of terrorism. what's going on now whether it's the proud boys, the oath keepers, the 3%ers, explicitly racist groups like the patriot front or these active clubs we've seen around the country, there are all of these groups that have the goal of doing away with the american democratic process, with the american constitution and enforcing their version of what they think the law should be with vigilante violence. now, what the atlantic council wrote about was how these people are no longer gathering in these large groups to focus on d.c. right now they're harassing school board members. they're going to their -- to the city and state legislative bodies and they're intimidating election officials with the intention of getting them to resign so that they can fill those vacanvacancies. this is not a new phenomenon. this is something that has been growing, and it's been pushed by figures like disgraced former general michael flynn, the convicted felon who trump let off who, you know, frankly belongs in jail and shouldn't be getting dod retirement after encouraging a sitting president to declare marshal law and to -- and he, you know, was outside the capitol on january 5th hyping up the crowd before the insurrection. this is a very organized campaign, and they are receiving instruction from the likes of flynn and steve bannon to go harass these people into retirement so that they can take over our government at the local level. >> this is some seriously scary stuff, daniel, you've got new reporting about former trump officials who were outraged about january 6th, how the president handled it. they said they couldn't work another day. they resigned after the riot, but then they went quiet. what should we know? >> yeah, so there were 18 trump administration officials, including senior cabinet members like betsy devos and elaine chao, and so we contacted all of them, my colleague meredith mcgraw and i, and only one of them would speak to us on the record about their thoughts. that was stephanie grisham, so a lot of them are kind of biding their time. they're worried about trying to preserve their options for a potential second trump administration in terms of jobs, and they're afraid that the republican party is not hospitable to them, and i think some of them probably have changed their mind whereby they had courage on january 6th or the 7th to resign, but a year later they see how the republican party has come to embrace the insurrection in many ways, at least in terms of trying to down play it. >> yamiche, last night former trump official peter navarro talked to my colleague ari melber, and he did not exactly deny attempting a coup. attorney general merrick garland is speaking later today. what does your reporting tell you about where the doj is here? i mean, a lot of people are frustrated. if people are basically saying, yep, it was a coup attempt and they don't get in trouble, that certainly seems like the coup worked. >> based on my reporting and in conversations with white house officials who have been very clear that they want to be independent of the doj's investigation, the sense is that the doj is taking this very seriously, that attorney general merrick garland, that he sees january 6th as a scene on american democracy, that he sees it as one of the most serious threats to the preservation of our democracy. i understand from reading articles, talking to folks that merrick garland is going to come out and be very strong about sort of taking this very seriously. i also think that it's in some ways the doj is being smart about the idea that they're not going to show their cards. they seem to be going after this aggressively. they seem to of course having indicted steve bannon and possibly eyeing others, but in some ways you also have a political arm of this in president biden and in the white house that are being very clear that they don't want to be seen as meddling in the doj, which is of course what their predecessors did. we all remember former president trump essentially using the doj like his personal attorney, and they really want to have this separation. >> all right, we are going to keep an eye on this. we'll be watching merrick garland speak later today at 2:30 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. thank you all. coming up, you've seen higher prices everywhere, the gas pump, the grocery store, the department store, and now some lawmakers say big business is to blame, but is it that simple? is it price gouging, or is it just supply and demand? we're going to watch one of biden's top economic advisers and senator elizabeth warren, she's got a plan for it next. is designed to help you keep more of what you earn. this is the planning effect. maybe it's another refill at your favorite diner... or waiting for the 7:12 bus... or sunday afternoon in the produce aisle. these moments may not seem remarkable. but at pfizer, protecting the regular routine, and everyday drives us to reach for exceptional. working to impact hundreds of millions of lives... young and old. it's what we call, the pursuit of normal. ♪ ♪ age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. time now for money, power, politics, we told you inflation saw its highest jump in nearly 30 years, but at the very same time, corporations are raking in their best profits in 70 years, and they're using inflation as a reason to pass these higher costs on to customers. and some democrats are pouncing on this with president biden taking aim at the meat industry specifically this week. >> the big companies are making massive profits. while their profits go up, the prices you see at the grocery stores go up commensurate. this reflects the market being distorted by lack of competition. >> joining us now to discuss, baa rat ra mahmour tee, the deputy director of the white house economic council. make us smarter here, americans are frustrated because everything we're buying costs more, and we're being told it's because of shortages. the retailers have to pay more and they have to pass those higher input costs on to us, except many, many of these companies are having the highest profits they've seen since 1950. square this for us. >> well, look, the president as he said yesterday, there are certain markets in which there is a lack of competition. you talked about meat processing yesterday, the big four meat processing countries control 85% of the market for beef, and that means two things. number one, farmers and ranchers looking to sell their items have fewer options and that means they have to accept lower prices. on the other side, retailers and grocery stores have fewer options to buy from, and they have to pay higher prices that get passed along to consumers. that's why when we looked at the data, the profit margins of the big meat processors have gone up more than 50% since before the pandemic. so look, the bottom line is that there are a variety of factors that play into this, but one big factor is that there's a lack of competition in certain markets and that's why the president has been so focused since the beginning of his administration on promoting competition. >> isn't this how free markets work? companies can raise prices because people are willing to pay up. it's sort of supply and demand, but is what you're saying the issue isn't at the consumer end, it's at the start of all of this between the small farmers, the manufacturers, the producers? >> well, i would say this, look, yes, supply and demand is of course a factor here, but the point is that when you have markets that lack competition, companies in those markets had a greater ability to raise prices. let me give you an easy example. 70 million americans live in a place where there's only one internet service provider, and guess what those 70 million americans on average are paying more for internet service than the people who live in areas with more than one option. that's because competition helps keep prices lower. it also produces a more innovative and dynamic economy, and so the president starting in july with his executive order on competition has been focused across industries on promoting more competition, which will lower prices for consumers, create better options for workers and for small businesses and produce a more product ive, faster growing economy. >> bharat has laid out what the problem is. i want to bring in a woman who has a plan to solve it and bring in massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. always good to see you. when people hear about price controls addressing inflation, they freak out. they're saying what is this? the government is now regulating prices? this is socialism. but what you're really doing is addressing monopolies. you're trying to create more competition and a broader base capitalistic system. can you explain that? >> sure. and you've got it exactly right. you know, we have laws in place that have been in place, some of them, for over a century in order to protect competition because we fully understand that very competitive markets, markets where there are lots of sellers and lots of buyers are going to produce the lowest prices for consumers, the most innovation. that's supposed to be the magic. that's where it all happens, but when you see enormous concentration in markets, that is you have only one or two players, maybe three players in some areas only one, then what happens is they start telling you exactly what the price will be. that's where real price push comes. they determine what the price is and they maximize their own profits, and the market is no longer beating those prices down and creating more innovation. and so what we've seen happen in the u.s. economy for decades now is there's been increasing competition in one industry after another, and now with the pandemic, with supply chain kinks, with inflation, people say, oh, my gosh, who are running these big corporations, this is our chance, and they get in and ratchet those prices up. so what's happened is that giant corporations in areas where there's already been a lot of concentration have beenable to ratchet profits up not just to cover their own increases in costs, but ratchet profits up to expand their profits enormously in a time of economic stress. >> how do you separate the two, though, between small business and big business? right? think about big box stores like walmart. their size and scale is so big that they don't have to raise prices so much because their volumes are big. they can afford to pay workers more. they can afford to give their workers more perks, which are great, but it's the small businesses out there that are now having to raise their prices so much because their shipping costs are so high, their labor costs are so high, how do we address the mom and pops? because they're getting squeezed. >> one of the problems when there's concentration in industries is the mom and pops get squeezed out of the game altogether. i was so glad to see president biden step in on the meat industry, for example, because the consequence of the concentration there, we're down to basically four meat processors for the entire nation means that the smaller competitors have been knocked out, as well as the farmers, the smaller farmers that want to be able to sell in a competitive market where different processors are offering different prices. monopoly hurts not only the consumer in terms of the prices that the monopolist demands, but it also squeezes out the small businesses, and that's why it's so powerfully important that we finally, finally, finally start enforcing the monopoly laws, the anti-monopoly laws that are currently on the books. and i think a strong signal in this area would be really important department of justice, the ftc to step in and say we're going to enforce the laws here and start breaking up these giants. >> isn't it really tricky to do this, though, when you think about more regulation, one of the dirtiest secrets is more regulation helps the biggest companies because they can afford it, right? i think back to after the financial crisis, more regulations were put in place, and the biggest banks out there like a jpmorgan had regulatory capture, they could afford to hire a thousand more lawyers. if you were a small or mid-sized bank you might go out of business because you couldn't afford to. how do you differentiate between the two? it's those smaller guys that are going i'm not going to be able to afford this. the big guys can. >> think of it this way, the government has two principal tools to work with. one is regulation, and that's where you kind of sit on your shoulder and say you can't do that and you can't do that, but you can do this. the other is antitrust law to say break these giants up and let them get out there and compete in an open market. the tool that we have failed to use for decades now has been the antitrust laws so that we get more and more concentration. think of the example right now, for example, with grocery stores. remember how many grocery stores there used to be? and now what you've got is a handful of giant chains, and then what happens? kroger, their profits just in the third quarter of 2021 were almost $900 million. that was more than three times what their profits were in the same time period in 2019. now, if they are able to expand profits, not expand prices, expand profits, that's because they have a lot of market dominance here. if we move in on antitrust law, break up these giant corporations, then we get real competition, and then we get markets that are truly competitive. that's good for small businesses. it's good for consumers, and it actually in many cases reduces the need for regulatory oversight. you can count on the markets doing what they need to do. >> all right, speaking of markets, i want to ask you about this. it feels like some of your democratic law making colleagues are talking out of both sides of their mouth. speaker pelosi says members of congress should not be banned from trading stocks. how can she say that in one breath that there should not be consequences from that and also say we've got to go after corporations who are enriching themselves when your colleagues are doing the same thing buying the stocks of these companies that are price gouging. >> no american should ever have to wonder when someone in government is making a decision on their behalf whether they're doing it -- >> well, i'm wondering that -- >> for the interests of the country or whether they are doing it to enrich themselves. for all of my time in public life i have not owned individual stocks. i have not traded in them. by the way, president biden as a senator and of course as president throughout his career took the same position, never owned individual stocks, and i have introduced legislation all along to say senators, folks in the house, people in the administration, cabinet officials, the president, the vice president, federal judges who sit for life, supreme court judges, members of the fed, none of them should be able to trade in individual stocks because no one should have to guess, well, did they make that decision in order to promote the public interest or in order to promote their own interest. that is wrong and that trading should be banned. >> have you asked speaker pelosi to change her position? >> i have made my position clear. i have introduced legislation on this. i have fought for this, and i will continue to do so. >> all right, senator warren, thank you for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. next, a new report shows more than 4 million people quit their jobs in november. the reason behind the great resignation, why it's actually a good sign for the economy. sign. at fidelity, your dedicated advisor will help you create a comprehensive wealth plan for your full financial picture. with the right balance of risk and reward. so you can enjoy more of...this. this is the planning effect. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. >> woman: what's my safelite story? 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>> paying different rates, it doesn't seem to make a difference. >> reporter: the nearby tarp and river brewing once had 53 employees. now they're down to 28. >> it has been a challenge. especially to keep people. there has been so many employees that we have had that have been here with us since the day we opened three, four years long, that have left to go into other industries. >> reporter: it's not just restaurants. the great resignation is impacting nearly every industry. after seven years as a police officer, rachael drewsbik decided to make a change. >> with everything going on, with covid and everything in this world, i decided that i needed a change and some growth. and i was able to start a company with one of my great friends. >> reporter: kyrsten walden left her social media marketing job of five years in august. the pandemic, she says, helped clarify her priorities. >> so it came to a point for me that exchanging my time and my talents at a job 48 hours a week was not worth the exchange in my mental health and wellness. >> reporter: so many now re-evaluating how work fits into their lives. >> reporter: and it's very interesting to see people reassessing, in part because of the pandemic, maybe largely in part of the pandemic, of that life/work balance. i think the thing that struck me the most was rachael drewsbik, who was a police officer of seven years, she was on her way to having a pension and decided in part the dangers of covid -- not the dangers of being a police officer, but the dangers of covid were enough for her to say, time to change careers and take on something new. >> that is -- >> the great resignation, steph. >> that is the part that i want to underscore. 4.5 million workers quitting their jobs in november is a huge number. but for fact's sake, it does not tell the whole story. like you just saw in kerry's piece, people are not quitting to stay at home. we're talking about people leaving lower-wage jobs in sectors like retail, transportation, and hospitality. the very sectors that are getting hit the worst by covid. people who have to face face-to-face contact with customers and potentially being exposed to covid. add to that consumer rage right now exploding on workers. customers lashing out about having to wear masks, furious about items being out of stock, or flights being canceled. many of these workers are fed up and stressed out. and they're leaving for other jobs, where they don't have to deal with irate customers. work-from-home jobs. places in safer, secure areas. and that is actually a sign of economic strength. why? because it shows that there are other jobs available. and many of those jobs are offering higher wages, signing bonuses, and better benefits. it is a good time for workers. the problem is, the real bad news, inflation is rising, higher, faster than these wages are. and that impacts everyone. if you've got a bigger paycheck, it doesn't mean much if everything in your life costs more. it's a complicated economic story, but remember, it is an overall positive one. we're in a recovery. coming up, breaking news right now. reporting at least 13 people now dead in a fire in the city of philadelphia. we'll bring you the latest details. philadelphia. we'll bring you the latest details. my auntie called me. she said uncle's had a heart attack. i needed him to be here. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. and we've got breaking news at this hour. in philadelphia, police sources tell our nbc affiliate wcau that a deadly fire has killed up to 13 people and critically injured two others. the philly fire department tweeting that they responded to the fire earlier this morning and found heavy flames coming from the second floor of the three-story row house. it took nearly an hour to get the fire under control. but the scene is still active and dangerous. the cause of the fire, not yet clear and authorities are expecting to give an update any minute now. we are sending our team to the scene. stay right here for any breaking news updates. that wraps up this very busy hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. thank you for joining. jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break. p breaking news coverage on the other side of the break. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. 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