before the month's out. congressman adam schiff, a committee member explaining why pence's information could be critical for their inquiry. >> he would have, i think, very undoubtedly relevant testimony for us about that pressure campaign. no one would be in a better position to speak to it than he would. all of the efforts to get him to violate his constitutional duty, to count the votes and instead reject votes without basis as the chairman's indicated, we intend to extend that invitation fairly soon. let's hope that he's willing to do the right thing. >> the marking of one year since the attack on the capitol has sparked a fresh push on voting rights legislation. senate majority leader chuck schumer said the chamber will vote no later than the martin luther king jr. holiday on changing senate rules if republicans keep blocking voting rights legislation. earlier today, house majority whip james clyburn told msnbc how he thinks legislation can pass through congress. >> reconciliation is a term much more aptly applied to constitutional wishes than to budget issues. so i think that we should all be pushing for this. you call it a carveout, i think this is an exception to filibustering, let's move forward and visit the filibuster recall rule in total at a later date. >> president joe biden has accepted house speaker nancy pelosi's invitation to give his first state of the union address to congress on march 1st. the address will be the first delivered in the month of march, and it comes as the congress continues to work on passing key parts of the president's agenda. and the life of former senate majority leader harry reid is being celebrated today. next hour president joe biden, senator chuck schumer, house speaker nancy pelosi will all be giving remarks at an invitation only memorial along with president barack obama delivering the eulogy. the senator died december 28th from complications from pancreatic cancer. he was 82 years old. josh, we have president biden certainly in las vegas for that memorial, but still facing a lot of challenges back in washington. that includes covid as well as the economy, so what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, those two issues there, alex, covid and the economy are really combining to form a perfect storm for president biden. just as he is scrambling to put together these half a billion home covid tests that are going to be sent through the mail to americans, we got this jobs report yesterday that was really a roar shock inkblot test for republicans, but biden on the other hand pointing to historically low unemployment in that jobs report to prove that omicron notwithstanding, his economic plan is working. >> america's back to work. >> reporter: a lukewarm jobs report shows the pandemic is still the president's biggest challenge and an ongoing drag on the economy as his first year new year's an end. >> we're going to be able to control this. >> reporter: still biden promising the new normal won't be worse than the old one. >> covid as we're dealing with it now is not here to stay. >> reporter: those comments after cdc director rochelle walensky said this to savannah guthrie. >> we are definitely looking at a time ahead of us where covid, sars-cov-2 will be an endemic virus. >> reporter: biden may lose a key tool in his arsenal, the supreme court poised to block his testing mandate for large employers after arguments on friday. >> why doesn't congress have a say in this, and why doesn't this be the primary responsibility of the states? >> reporter: the white house still playing catchup on the covid testing shortages inking the first contracts for at home tests as part of the biden's plan to send half a billion to americans starting this month. they'll be free and arrive in the mail, an idea the white house mocked as recently as last month. >> should we just send one to every american? >> reporter: the omicron surge presenting the latest stumble for the economy even as biden insists he is delivering the kind of recovery he promised. >> now i hear republicans say today that my talking about this strong record shows that i don't understand or that i'm not focused on inflation. malarkey. >> reporter: and alex, the president woke up out west today after visiting colorado yesterday and the the site of that devastating wildfire. he will be among the democrats speaking at the funeral of former senate majority leader harry reid, someone that biden served with in the u.s. senate for decades as well as the eight years when biden was vice president. harry reid so critical to getting the obama administration's agenda through congress. >> yeah, 100%. that's exactly where we're going right now for the show as we head to las vegas, everyone, where dignitaries are gathering to pay tribute to former nevada senator harry reid, nbc's leigh ann caldwell is joining me from her hometown. i like making that point. you know it so well as we talk about this memorial service starting in less than an hour. i know you've been speaking with some of the senators, former staffers. what kinds of stories are they sharing? >> reporter: well, alex, there's a lot of former staffers over his many years in the senate here to pay tribute. some in d.c., some in las vegas. he had an imprint on so many people's lives. they had an immense amount of respect for him, not only for what he did legislatively and for the country, but also personally as well. in that memorial service later today, we can expect some of the speakers, including former president barack obama to about it some of the key legislative accomplishment s of the former senator that was instrumental to his agenda include k the affordable care act. senator reid has always said that that was one of his biggist accomplishments. i spoke with one of his staffers who was his staffer for the aca, and she talked about that experience and how much it meant for him. let's listen. >> it was incredibly hard. he said to me one day, we were in his office, and he told me that he had never once in all his years lost sleep over work, which shocked me at the time. i thought to myself, i'm asleep over work almost every day here. he said he was losing sleep over that. it was really hard work, and it was really stressful, and i think he's talked about it being one of the hardest things he ever did in the senate. >> reporter: perhaps one of the hardest things he ever did in the senate, but perhaps one of the most consequential things he did as well. other accomplishments that only he got through was closing down the yucca mountain nuclear waste site, something that is extremely unpopular in this state, and he successfully close ed that. also getting through president obama's nominations. he famously changed the senate rules so that those nominations can get through with just a simple majority instead of the 60-vote threshold. we're having a similar discussion in the senate as we speak about legislation, and so, you know, senator reid has had such an impact on this town, on this country, on democratic politics, and that is going to all be evident in the speakers today. alex. >> indeed it will. i absolutely agree. thank you so much for that, leigh ann caldwell, and for all of you, our live coverage of the memorial begins in the next hour. we're going to hear from the country's top democrats, including president biden and former president obama. meantime, two major new developments overnight in the investigation into the january 6th attack on capitol hill. new reporting from "the guardian" says the house panel is examining whether donald trump is culpable for criminal conspiracy in his attempts to stop biden's certification. this as chairman bennie thompson says the committee could ask former vice president mike pence to appear voluntarily before the end of this month. joining me now, hugo lowell, congressional reporter for "the guardian" who knows all things about this investigation. starting with your new reporting, hugo, you write that the committee's new focus on the potential for a conspiracy marks an aggressive escalation in its inquiry as it confronts evidence that suggests the former president potentially engaged in criminal conduct egregious enough to warrant a referral to the justice department. take us through your reporting. what have you learned on this front? >> yeah, so the committee has trove of evidence that was turned over by trump's former white house chief of staff mark meadows and other witnesses who have been cooperating with the inquiry. and among those messages are communications that suggest the trump white house directed republican members of congress as part of a theme to stop biden's certification. off the back of that, they initially started looking at whether there was scope for a criminal referral or potential criminality by the former president in terms of obstructing a congressional proceeding. now they're taking that a step further and it sounds like they're looking at whether there was a connection between the political elements of that plan, of the white house plan to have pence throw the election and the violence of the insurrection, and if there is, they'd be prepared to make a referral for some sort of criminal conspiracy. we don't know exactly what statute or what sort of conspiracy, but i think this is a really major development in the way that they're investigating january 6th. >> conspiracy being, though, the harder entity to prove over obstruction. i mean, it's your summary when i read your article that, you know, conspiracy is still quite iffy, but obstruction charges would be far easier and more likely. >> yeah, so i think in the first one, since they are looking at the straight obstruction charge rather than the conspiracy, it's a much higher threshold that trump oversaw a massive conspiracy that involved both the political elements and the violent extremist group evidence, and the justice department is, you know, going to have to weigh up the evidence and see if they can act on a referral. so the committee has to be very careful, and i think it's important to note that the committee according to our sources, at least, doesn't have evidence directly tieing trump to the violence at the moment. maybe it shows up. maybe it doesn't show up. that's obviously going to be the key question in any conspiracy referral. >> mike pence voluntarily showing up. if he agrees to do so, that's a big escalation, and we had chairman bennie thompson talking about that earlier. >> yeah, and pence knows more than anyone else about the pressure campaign he was subjected to to either reject states and states of electors for biden or to throw the election to the house where trump and his political operatives knew that the gop had a majority delegation which would likely then vote to return trump to office. he was in the oval office, he had communications with dan quayle. he was at the center of all of this, this is why the committee wants to talk to, less so to figure out the time line of the events. pence really can shed light on what trump was saying to him specifically and cast some light into the mind-set and where trump's intent was at. >> mm-hmm. all this is happening, we have another voice adding to the conversation, that being former white house press secretary stephanie grisham who gave an interview after meeting with the house committee saying this about how trump was reacting to the riot as it was underway. take a listen. >> all i know about that day was that he was in the dining room gleefully watching on his tv as he often did, look at all of the people fighting for me, hitting rewind, watching it again. that's what i know. >> how significant is grisham's cooperation, and even that stunning first person insight about trump gleefully watching using her words there, that attack. how has the committee reacted to that information? >> i think they've taken it very, very seriously, and i think that because she has been in constant communication with the committee for several weeks now, you know, she spoke and had contacts with jamie raskin as an initial port of call, and she actually went in to provide testimony last week, so stephanie grisham has been instrumental in furthering the narrative and furthering what the committee is trying to find out about what happened in the white house. and my understanding is that she provided new insights as to what she knew in the west wing and the east wing and potentially next witnesses to call and who to potentially subpoena. >> last question, this is important because it's something that you tweeted about. we have not spent enough time talking about this, although the president made this, i think it was point two of three in his speech on thursday. it was a big deal. one year on, still cannot get a straight answer to how 140 house republicans said they would object to biden's win on the basis of fraud and yet not object to house republicans win that came on the same ballot. i mean, if you think about this, what they're alleging is like, oh, the top of the ballot, that was fraudulent but everything for senate, house, anything that came underneath that down ballot, that was good. >> yeah, and it just underscores how much of the entire big lie is a big lie, and how much of it is nonsense. let's pretend that this was really the case that democrats manipulated ballots but they only changed the public ballot. that's crazy. i mean, if democrat were really smart, they would change it all the way through. the whole thing is ridiculous. >> let that be the last word. it is a stunning headline from this week, they stormed the capitol. now they're running for office, but some members of congress have a plan to keep this from happening, and i'm going to speak with one of them about it next. speak with one of them about it next 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. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? 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>> well, happy new year and thanks for having me. first and foremost, the january 6th select committee in the house continues to investigate and with every passing day, more and more is revealed that not only was there an attack on the capitol with, you know, over a thousand rioters, but there was a very diabolical and deliberate plot by donald trump and his allies to overthrow a legit -- overturn a legitimately held presidential election, and so our founding fathers crafted a provision in section 3 of the 14th amendment of the constitution that essentially said anyone who commits insurrection, anyone who plots against our government should never have a right to be in charge of it. and so this incident certainly seems appropriate to invoke that section and ensure that no one that was involved with planning or carrying out the potential overthrow of a legitimately held presidential election should ever be able to seek public office. >> okay. i'm going to focus on the word "anyone" and presuming that no one is above the law, could this apply to donald trump? could this apply to current members of congress if any are proved to have been involved? >> well, alex, i've been working on this legislation with constitutional scholars and colleagues of mine for a little over a year, and really, we really started out just focusing on what we're continuing to focus on today is that anyone who is found to have committed insurrection, who it's clear, were trying to not allow the peaceful transfer of power and engage in insurrection of our government we need to honor the founding fathers' intention which was designed just after the civil war and make sure that they can never seek public office. and that should apply to anyone who committed that insurrection. excuse me. >> okay. let's talk about the house committee, the january 6th committee specifically preparing for the public hearings, perhaps as soon as march. i mean, as part of the house oversight committee, you certainly know about high profile hearings. how impactful will these hearings be as the american public sees the evidence that's been uncovered by the 1/6 committee? >> well, although i was a young child during the watergate hearings, i think those are a perfect example of how when there has been really serious breach of our constitution and a serious breach of the law, that the white hot spotlight shown on the evidence that exists to get to the bottom of who perpetrated those offenses really need to be -- need to be highlighted and shown to the public, and so public hearings, i think, are going to be an important way to help breakthrough the log jam that exists right now where we have a very divided country. there's a huge fault line. when people have an opportunity to see what really went on here and see the evidence that has been really revealed by and discovered by the select committee, it's going to be an important turning point for our country and the decisions that we have to make to prevent this from ever happening again. >> as we have marked now the one-year anniversary of the attack on the capitol, the reflections on the riot have intensified the calls to pass voting rights legislation. do you think congress is females the urgency here? what is it going to take to get legislation through congress and to the president's desk? >> we've had 30 different state legislatures enact 19 different laws that totally revamp election law in the worst response to this crisis, which is that you have republican legislatures that are trying to shape what the electorate will look like because they have a failed agenda, and the only way that they can get their candidates elected is by rigging who shows up to the polls. and that's an unacceptable outcome, so we have to make sure that we pass voting rights reform so that there is a floor through which we don't allow our voters to fall and that we don't allow their rights to be trampled upon, and i think that the house certainly has put our full weight behind that legislation, and i'm hopeful that the senate will make the kind of changes necessary for them to be able to pass that legislation. >> let's talk about the president's build back better legislation, it's stuck right now in the senate as you know. what are the thoughts around potentially renegotiating maybe a smaller package that could gain the support of all democrats. as the former dnc chair, how critical is passing it in some form or another for democrats as they head into the midterms? >> well, i'm from the school of thought that you can't let the perfect -- be the enemy of the good. the real question here, alex, especially when you look at the electoral prospects is why are republicans, not a single republican supports this legislation to make sure that we can make big pharma negotiate for lower prescription drug costs, make child care more affordable, make pre-k universally free, make sure we lower prescription drug costs for our seniors -- >> can i ask you about this, how is it that they're selling that to republicans? you're pointing out each and every one of these things. there's a litany of them in this bill. >> right. >> how is it that they think republican constituents of theirs are like, yeah, i don't need any of that. >> well, remember, they also thought that with the affordable care act, and they thought it was going to be really easy to just discard the affordable care act when they were in charge. the affordable care act has grown to be one of the most popular programs that brought access to quality affordable health care to millions of americans. we got all snarled up during that debate and many times thought that the chances to pass it were lost, and we came back, came together, and we were able to put as much health care reform on president obama's desk as we could get a majority for. and that's what we're focused on here. but when it comes down the line this election year, i know that our candidates, our members running for re-election are going to be running on the idea that we support making sure that we can lower those prescription drug costs, make child care more affordable, cut child poverty in half, and our republican opponents universally oppose all of that and stood in the way. i hope we pass something, and i'm confident that we will. whatever it will be won't be with a single republican vote, and that is today. >> always a pleasure, florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. a new worry for parents whose kids become infected with covid. s whose kids become infected with covid. i grow all my own vegetables shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age increasing your risk for getting shingles. so, what can protect you? 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>> right, it's one of those things we keep on wanting the end to be near, but until we do the mitigating factors that create that situation, it won't be. so i hesitate to say that it would drop sharply because what we're seeing even in south africa is that hospitalizations and death unfortunately are starting to tick back up. i hesitate to say that. at this point in the united states of america, ten persons are being infected per second in america. and one death is occurring every 31 seconds. we have got to be hypervigilant, and instead of looking at the end, we have to deal with what we're currently facing and what that is currently is that hospitalizations for 0 to 4-year-olds are up 791% over the past month. this is something we cannot tolerate. >> no, it is stunning, actually. all those figures you shared. what about kids going back to school, all the countries experiencing these statistics, these record numbers that you're talking about, how do you feel about that? >> right, you know my little sister, she's an elementary school principle, i fully understand the stress on the educational system. what i asked the educational system is what have you done to prepare your schools for these children entering back into these classrooms, and at this point we know that the most marginalized students, they are returning to schools that have poor ventilation systems because they're under funded. they are overcrowded and what does that do to socialization or being able to social distance in an airborne pandemic. what we are seeing now is that our children's hospitalization rates are outpacing the increase that we're seeing in the hospitalization rates of our 60 plus older. and what does it mean to a young body when you're still developing organs, when your pancreas, your lungs, when your body is literally still growing into what it will be for the longevity of your life, and you subject that to an extreme inflammatory process, what disease processes will we see pop up in these children that they will not be able to eradicate on their own. this is a real issue. >> let me pick up the mention of the pancreas there because there's a shocking new study finding kids who had covid have been substantially higher at risk for developing diabetes, something that affects the pancreas after their infection. i'm presuming it's type 1 diabetes, since that's the juvenile type of diabetes. what do you know about this, or what's suspect behind this? >> right, there is actually two studies. it showed a 2.6 fold increase in new diabetes cases for children 18 and younger. for those who have been infected with covid-19 versus not. another study showed a 30% increase in diabetes, and the question, again, i have for parents i understand the stress that it places on placing your children and trying to figure out virtual learning, but at this danger what happens when we're having an increase of 2.6 fold of your child developing type 1 diabetes. that is something that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and it's not just diabetic. there are studying out of finland, literally the minister for the family affairs and social services said that of 4,000 studies they looked at they found that one in two adults can expect to have long covid syndrome and 2% of children. so when we're looking at 7.5, 7.6 million children infected with covid-19 in the united states of america since august we have not had a single week in which we had less than 100,000 children infected with covid-19. my question for america is if we don't hold our children sacred, then what population do we? j j yeah, that is a sobering question. masking with the new questions around which kinds of masks people should be wearing. research has shown that cloth masks and surgical masks may not provide enough protection against omicron. so what do we do? do we have to all upgrade toon n95? and by the way, prices are surging on those. >> completely, and it's one of those things where capitalism will kill us. i just want to say that upfront. it has guided how we're even rolling out global vaccinations and we know that every person in the globe has been to be vaccinated in order for variants not to occur. the question with the mask, we back in july pulled the trigger and said we should not have to wear masks if you're vaccinated. that has been the very first flaw of our pandemic rollout this year. that should have been addressed months ago to say we made a mistake. masks are necessary. we know it helps protect us in the hospital, so why would it not protect us in the grocery store. the type of mask is important. the reason why the cloth masks and surgical masks aren't necessarily as great, and particularly the cloth masks is that they don't filter out omicron, but secondly for the surgical masks, we know they are loose fitting and if you can have air come around the sides of your masks that means covid-19 can get in. think about cigarette smoke. if someone is in a corner in your room smoking a cigarette, you can still smell the smoke over in the far corner of the other room. that's how omicron works. it spreads throughout, and it does not define itself by boundaries of rooms or even when you're thinking about with your mask, it can still filter through, so you have to be hypervigilant. >> dr. ebony hilton, when you gave us those statistics about death, during this conversation nine people in this country have passed away from covid, which is sobering as was our chat, but thank you so much for it. a state of emergency after a leader gives shoot to kill orders against protesters, new information about what's happening in kazakhstan. ation as happening in kazakhstan. wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin. at new chapter. its innovation organic ingredients and fermentation. fermentation? 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(robert) thank you. subaru. more than a car company. a tense calm in kazakhstan after a week of brutal fighting between anti-government protesters and security forces. the streets of the country's largest city amati are littered with torched government buildings and debris. also on the streets russian-led troops. nbc's raf sanchez is following from tel aviv. what's the latest on all of this? >> reporter: the government does seem to have regained control for the most part after days of bloodshed leaving dozens of protesters, dozens of members of the security forces dead. they have done it with the help of those russian-led peace keeping troops. we don't know exactly how many russian troops there are in kazakhstan right now, but we do know the ctso, which is a sort of russian-led equivalent of nato said it was planning to deploy 2,500 soldiers. overnight the russian defense ministry publishing videos showing more and more troops, more and more armor being loaded onto cargo planes heading for kazakhstan. vladimir putin did speak by telephone with the kazakh president who thanked the russian leader for that deployment of russian forces. he also said the counterterrorism operation as he called it in kazakhstan would continue. now, the u.s. has been kind of publicly agnostic about this russian deployment saying, look, kazakhstan is a sovereign country. if they want to invite foreign troops in, that's their prerogative, but secretary of state tony blinken did have a warning for the kazakh government about what happens when you allow russian forces into your country. i want you to take a listen to that. >> i think one lesson in recent history is that once russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave. >> reporter: now, alex, adding to all the palace intrigue here, the former kazakh intelligence chief has now been arrested for alleged treason. this man was one of the most senior figures in the regime until wednesday when he was unceremoniously fired, and today he is languishing in prison alongside thousands and thousands of others. alex. >> wonder what that is all about. very interesting news alert. okay, raf sanchez, thank you for that. we're going to continue this conversation as we bring in admiral james devee dees, and former supreme alied commander at nato. any clue on that last nugget? >> no definitive indications of his position, but let's face it. it's a long running dictatorship, kazakhstan, ever since it left the soviet union, it's been a dictatorship, kind of a stalin-esque. as a result, peoples fortunates -- fortunes rise and fall. >> you mentioned kazakhstan's departure that happened in 1991 from the soviet union, so russia at this point, does it take advantage of all this turmoil and try to reassert its influence? you hear president putin having a chat with the president of kazakhstan and bringing in the troops to help keep the peace. what's happening, do you think, behind the scenes? >> first and foremost, vladimir putin is thinking about what happened in ukraine during the period of time the orange revolution when huge mobs took to the streets. initially the kremlin dictator shot down in the square some of these demonstrators, that further galvanized the population, and today ukraine has moved away from russia. of course that's the other controversy we're following. putin does not want to see that happen again to kazakhstan. so it's all part of his effort to try and move around the periphery of the old soviet union, those former soviet republics. as you know, alex, another one is belarus. he's helped put down demonstrations there. he wants to maintain control of what he can still grasp from the old soviet union. >> control or certainly a huge influence these places. let me ask you about nato preparing to sit down with russia on wednesday. they're trying to address these growing tensions, specifically the russian ukrainian border. on friday, both the u.s. and nato said they're going into the conversation on good faith, but they are prepared if things take a turn. let's take a listen. >> we need to be prepared for that -- the talks breaks down, break down, and that diplomacy will fail. if they once again decide to use military force against a neighbor, then there will be severe consequences, a high price to pray. >> we're prepared to respond forcefully to further russian aggression, but a diplomatic solution is still possible, and preferable if russia chooses it. >> so do you think russia's willingness to come to the table and have a discussion with nato is a good sign? do you think it is legitimate good faith negotiation? >> i'd say on the scale that runs from they really want a diplomatic solution to they are completely killing time before they launch an invasion, alex, it's somewhere in the middle. the bottom line is the kremlin is not going to go quietly into that good night, and so you heard secretary general stoltenberg talk about if sanctions fail, if the russians invade, what comes next. there will be a range of things nato will do incluing moving significant troops to the borders of russia, putting additional pressure on the russians via the ukrainians with military arms, intelligence, cyber. i don't see troops going into ukraine from nato or the west, but i think there are many options that can be exercised that would be dangerous for putin. >> could one of the options be nato implements some sanctions against russia and says, look, back off, and then we'll back off. i mean preemptively say we're putting them on you. we threatened to and here they are. >> that would be an approach to think about carefully. i think the nature of the sanctions that are being discussed, alex, are so sweeping that they would almost have to be used after putin conducted the actual invasion, and we've made that crystal clear to him from president biden through tony blinken down through every level. my successor is supreme allied commander i'm sure is talking to the commander of the russian armed forces. russia knows what's coming. they're going to be hit in the face with a big swinging steel door if they pursue this course of action. >> okay. admiral thank you so much for your sage wisdom. how colleges are adapting to the threat of omicron, new insight next. insight next 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. ♪ ♪ why does walgreens offer prescription copays as low as zero dollars? the pursuit of normal. ♪ ♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪ ♪ plus, 90-day refills and same day delivery. larry? that's even less to medicare about. fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. ♪ ♪ spring semester is set to begin for colleges and universities across the country in the coming weeks, but with covid-19 cases surging, some schools are reconsidering their plans to return to campus. nbc's liz mclaughlin is joining us from the university of north carolina at charlotte, so big welcome to you. how are things shaping up for the spring semester there? >> reporter: alex, a new year, a new strain bringing up familiar problems for the nation's millions of college students. here on campus, even though classes are about to start in 48 hours, it's pretty quiet, and it will be for the next couple of weeks. classes going virtual, at least temporarily, until the 24th of january as we move through this omicron spike. residential universities especially prone to an outbreak at the beginning of the semester when people are returning from all sorts of geological locations and after holiday gatherings, so not just this university, many others making the decision to go online, also having some protocols encouraging those residential students to delay their return to campus to at least the 19th or later, even getting a credit on their account if they decide to do so, and those returning in-person need to show proof of a vaccination, a booster, if eligible, or a negative covid test. this morning, i spoke with a student and a professor about how they're grappling with all of this uncertainty as we move into another pandemic semester. here's what they had to say. >> my dad is immunocompromised, i'm immunocompromised so it's a lot of anxiety going into my final semester. it's a little disappointing being virtual, but at the same time, i do kind of think it's for the best, just to at least have that little gap of a few weeks to be virtual to maybe save the rest of the semester. i'm okay with that. but there's a lot of multifaceted feelings going into the -- into my last semester. >> professors are feeling like most american workers. we're fatigued and exhausted. it's like the movie groundhog day when in the beginning you're excited and ready to face the challenge and now you're exhausted, you've been through this before, you're ready for a solution. >> reporter: and though solutions vary from coast to coast, many universities doing the same as this one here and starting online, at least temporarily. that includes harvard, stanford, georgetown, some university of california campuses and many others. one group estimating that 10% of the nation's 400 major universities will be starting virtually. some are just delaying the start altogether, but resuming in-person. that includes howard in d.c. and tennessee state. some are letting the instructors decide if they want to be in-person or virtual. that includes louisiana state and here in north carolina, the university of north carolina chapel hill letting the deans of each school decide. some that have rolled back protocols for covid are reinstating them, including the university of alabama, and some are trudging ahead, starting school as planned. that includes penn state, brown, and the university of florida, even though the faculty union at the university of florida really pushed for a delayed start or a virtual start because of this pandemic, this surge, saying that, you know, students are only expected to make that spike more in this tight knit community, so a lot of questions, a lot of uncertainty, and some schools are still deciding, still in flux, and going to change plans based on the data that continues to roll in, alex. >> let me add a few to that, four of the uc system campuses are stalling the return. they're going to start online, same with usc. it really is perfect sound byte you got there. this is "groundhog day." it's happening all over again, except everyone's having to figure out what works best for them. liz, thank you so much. really important facts you brought us. in just a moment for all of you, we're going to take you back to las vegas for the memorial service for former senate majority leader harry reid as we give you a look at president joe biden there waiting to attend and beginning the start of that wonderful memorial that we're going to bring you a lot for. we have family. we have many colleagues gathering there to remember him. also former president obama, he'll be giving the eulogy, and we'll bring you live coverage when that picture sharpens up. y when that picture sharpens up. 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