continent's population will be infected with omicron within eight weeks. to get past the wave, countries like france and germany are turning on those they see as the problem. isolating and alien nalting the unvaccinated. tightening the rules for the eu covid health pass, which is required for most public places. it's no longer enough to have a negative covid test, if you're not vaccinated. in france you need proof of a recent infection. french president emanuel ma crohn said the change is deliberate. quote, the unvaccinated i want to piss them off." germany went even further. it allows vaccinated citizens in eu covid health pass a change that triggered protest by the small minority of unvaccinated germans. a small minority. it seems europe is eager to move on and tps. making big moves to do so, which raises the question what about here in the "atlantic" reports growing group of americans called the vax and done. the americans who got their vaccines, got their boosters, and are ready for life to return to normal. and those in favor of getting on with it, may point to this hopeful sign. new data out of new york suggests the city may have passed the peak of its omicron surge. cases and hospitalizations and deaths all starting to decline. joining me now is nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley in london, ellison barber in new york, shannon petty piece, and the founder and ceo of health equity. everybody, welcome. matt, i find what is going on in europe to be exceedingly interesting. especially because we've been following in europe's footsteps. tell me what you are hearing out of the prime minister's office in the uk about what that country is going to start doing. >> yeah, i mean, it is interesting. the prime minister's office is a different set of restraints and problems that are afflicting 10 downing street. as you mentioned, in europe, a lot of these countries are still throwing everything they've got at the virus. they're not quite at the point where they're saying it's indemmic. they want to try to control it. france, germany, italy. we're seeing lockdowns or something like lockdowns in some parts of germany, in austria, and elsewhere in europe. we haven't seen lockdowns in britain for quite awhile. here the government is intent on doing what the biden administration has slowly embraced, which is that we're going to be living with the virus but unlike the biden administration, boris johnson is facing a very, very real threat here to his political future. just today he's being questioned by parliament about parties he and his staff had at 10 downing street during the height of the lockdowns here in britain. that has outraged the public. it's caused a lot of people to call on him to resign, but one thing it has done is made it incredibly difficult for him to impose any restrictions because for the public here, it will smack a frank hypocrisy after revelations of the christmas parties and other parties he enjoyed over the summer with his staff have been coming out drip by drip. he won't want to impose restrictions on this public now. >> we're seeing in spain they're saying we have to move on. there's france and germany saying, listen, it's not the problem of those who have been following the rules. it's problem of those who have refused to get vaccinated. they're trying to tighten restrictions on those that set of folks. is that seen as a way to get out of this? >> reporter: it's seen as a way to get out of it and has been effective in places like germany where they have tightened restrictions and done what macron said. he wants to try to make life difficult for people who refuse to get vaccinated. he's been explicit about that. it's what he's trying to do. in germany, there has been somewhat a decreasing proportion of people who are not vaccinated. they did, in the end, succumb to the pressure to get the vaccine because life just became too difficult to do it otherwise. now we know there's going to be a subset of the population that no matter what kind of pressure is placed on them, and we'll see it in the states, they will refuse to get the vaccine. even if it means they won't be able to eat in restaurants or go to their work, which is what we're seeing in italy now. they'll be fined. if you're over 50 and not vaccinated, you simply won't be able to show up to work until likely around mid february. these restrictions are real. in some places, they've had marginal success. what we're talking about really is, you know, 15 to 20% of the populations in each of these countries who are still refusing but they can get that down to 15 or 10%, these restrictive and invasive policies might be worth it. >> shannon, the white house i know they are in kind of a space where they're asking americans to just hold on for a little bit longer and we'll end up living with this. are they looking toward europe and taking any cues? >> it dusht appear that way. there are no indications from our reporting or from the public comments. we're hearing from the white house they are considering anything like another lockdown. the president is continuing to largely stay the course despite this omicron variant. obviously, there's been a lot of response going on behind the scenes with the federal government trying to help out states, but as far as the messaging goes, it's continuing to be get vaccinated, if you're not vaccinated. get boosted and wear a mask indoors. even increasing rights like things around masks. telling people they should wear n-95 masks versus just these clothe masks. the cdc website said those are okay. even going that far we have not seen the administration do so. there's a languaging change they haven't been making. the president continues to insist schools and businesses stay open. we heard the white house telling people they can get together and gather if people are vaccinated. a much different approach in the u.s. than they are taking in europe. you know, i reported on a story today, i talked to a number of public health officials, including former obama administration officials, and said that approach of largely staying the course has lead to a lot of confusion and people like what they are seeing in their everyday lives isn't necessarily matching with the message as people see schools close, as they see they're unable to get a test, as they see politicians wearing n-95 masks. that's one of the big struggles and tension points going forward for the biden administration is whether or not the message is going to seem credible with people seeing and experiencing things different in their daily lives. >> we'll answer a lot of questions on masks. we been trying to do it on the show. we have even more and we'll get those later in the hour. part of the issue we're facing here and in europe, in some areas, there's a staffing issue because omicron is so prevalent and infect soggy many people. it's good news it's not worst. not as many people are being hospitalized. not as many people are dying given the numbers we're seeing in infections, but still there are staffing issues. because of that, the governor here in new york paused elective surgeries, which can be a big problem for hospitals. that being said, the people coming in and testing positive, the governor also admitted, a lot aren't coming in for covid. they're being tested. they're there for other reasons. they find they are positive with covid. talk about how that is making it difficult for even a state like new york where things are starting to decrease to move on as quickly as some might want. >> yeah. i mean, this is one of 40 hospitals that have been ordered in new york state to temporarily pause nonessential elective surgeries for at least two weeks. they have at least 90% of the beds full. it doesn't matter how many beds you have available or how many rooms you have, if you don't have the staff for all of those available spaces. you have touched on a big factor at play here. there are a few different factors at play, but one is now you sort of have two different groups of patients coming in with covid-19. you have people admitted to the hospital solely because of covid-19. the majority of those patients unvaccinated who need a higher level of care. with this wave, versus previous waves, the delta variant, what have you, you see groups of people being admitted to the hospital for something else and then finding out they have covid-19. not necessarily needing hospital-level care because of covid-19. but that group adds to the staffing struggles and burdens because there are different protocols that have go into place to make sure that those patients are isolated from other patients in the hospital. again, all that have stretches their staff very thin. we were in this country. we have a nationwide nursing shortage prior to the pandemic. what we've seen since the pandemic began is that problem really exacerbated. there are doctors, nurses, health care workers here who are out right now because they themselves have tested positive for covid-19 and have to stay home. then there are a lot of health care workers who throughout the pandemic have just become so burnt out they quit their jobs or they retired early. when it comes to some of those staffing issues, i've asked hospitals -- the ones we have spoken to within the group of 40 that have been ordered to go under the pause, if they were having staffing issues because people had left, because they didn't want to comply with vaccine mandates, they said there was one or two here and there but no one said that is driving this. the people leaving, they say have, have left because they're so burnt out. listen to what we heard from one of the doctors at this hospital. >> it's been a, you know, an all encompassing staffing shortage and there are many fronts including nursing teches and health professionals and support staff from the housekeeping and food services and things like that. things we didn't anticipate at all with the pandemic. you anticipate the disease and the people who get sick, but i think the second wave has shown us there are many unanticipated things that have happened that have resulted in us needing to halt elective surgeries. >> reporter: this is hitting smaller, more rural hospitals particularly hard. remember elective surgeries are often important surgeries. they can be anything from something that is not necessarily time sensitive or immediately necessary, like lasik eye surgery but knee and hip replacements and some cancer screenings. for patients being told they have to wait for those, oftentimes the surgeries feel pretty essential to them. >> let's talk about the path forward. we are seeing some paths in europe. people in countries saying we'll move on. what is the path forward for this country? >> thank you so much for having me. i want to emphasize that the situation in europe is very different from the u.s. they're using a vaccination plus strategy where they're encouraging vaccinations and boosters but they also are, for the most part, enforcing public health measures. they still have mask policies. people have to wear masks indoors. they still have a significant and robust testing infrastructure. they're paying attention to ventilation and air filtration and also provide financial support for quarantine or isolation or sick leave. that's different than the approach that the biden administration is taking which is a vaccine-centric approach. don't get me wrong, vaccinations are important. we see that vaccinations are still important in preventing the worst outcomes of covid-1 -- even in this current surge they're still effective. we need to decrease transmission, you know, as your reporters have mentioned. we're seeing significant staffing shortages among health care workers, among teachers, and all different industries because of the variant, even though it's quote, unquote, mild, less severe. it's causing significant disruptions. i think that we definitely are not indemmic yet. we are seeing an exponential increases in cases. i think that over the next few weeks, we have to think about how are we going to contain the spread. encouraging vaccinations and boosters, but that takes about five to six weeks for people to get fully vaccinated. obviously even longer to get fully boosted. we need to focus on what we call nonpharmaceutical intervention to contain the spread. what we'll probably see is, you know, a copy of what happened with the first wave, the very first wave, we see the outbreaks in the northeast and then it spreads to the rest of the country. so that's my fear. my fear we'll see outbreaks in the rest of the country especially in rural areas that as ellison and their hospitals are going to simply crash if they see the same number of hospitalzations as we're seeing in hot spots right now. >> what we've noticed as we have been doing this now for a couple of years is that this country like other countries, the waves hit different areas at different times. if you're in new york city, we're starting to see a decrease and hopefully it'll continue on this path with hospitalizations, deaths, and, umm, even cases. that doesn't mean the whole country will be going through it at the same time. in fact, not even the whole state is going through it at the same time. you see hospitalizations up in other parts of the state, which is hitting the wave at a different time than new york city. quick question to you, doctor, because we're starting to see a decline in new york because we were the first ones to shoot up, do you -- can we say it's indicative of how it'll goes eventually for the rest of the country? >> you know, it may or may not. if new york and new york city in particular has a relatively high vaccination rate compared to the rest of the country, and so there are parts of the country, you know, especially in the southeast where vaccination rates are quite low and so i particularly am concerned about those areas where there are large number of unvaccinated people that their hospitals will be absolutely overwhelmed to a greater degree than we're seeing now in the new york area. >> dear lord, get vaccinated. help us all move past this! get vaccinated. you're not an individual. you're not an island. this is a country. a society. get vaccinated. get boosted. everybody, thank you so much for starting us off today. i would like to be spain sooner than later. president biden arrives in georgia to deliver a major speech on voting rights. not everyone is rolling out the red carpet. plus, he's a crucial witness in the investigation to the donald trump's role of the january 6th riot. former president mike pence cooperate? later, why did the faa ground all planes on the west coast for seven minutes last night? r seven minutes last r seven minutes last night? in an office we know as "oval," a new-generation president faced down an imminent threat of nuclear war. on a bridge in selmaalabama, the preacher of his time marched us straight to passing voting rights for every american. at a gate in west berlin, a late-generation american president demanded an enemy superpower tear down a wall and liberate a continent. american generations answering the call of their time with american ideals. freedom. liberty. justice. for today's generation of leaders, the call has come again to protect our freedom to vote, to fortify our democracy by passing the freedom to vote act and the john lewis voting rights act because america - john lewis: we are not going back, we are going forward. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching... john lewis: we are not going back, the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. tremfya® is the only medication of 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according to a preview of his remarks obtained by nbc news. he's also expected to announce support for a change in the senate's filibuster rules in the hopes of getting more moderates behind the effort to get both of those bills passed. that plan is already getting vetoed by west virginia's joe manchin. >> filibuster is what we have. we need some good rule changes to make the place work better. filibuster doesn't make it work better. to change the rules with two-thirds of the people, changing the rules to make the place work better -- >> a couple of manchin's criticism was criticism with georgia activist groups skipping the event in an effort to highlight the need for concrete action rather than speeches, they say. joining me now is the ceo of the national urban league. also joining us now is ari burrman. you've done a lot of reporting on it being now or never own voting rights. why is the moment so crucial? >> hey, katy, thank you so much for having me. the clock is ticking here because in 2021, the republican party basically did everything it wanted at a state level to make it harder to vote and to undermine hypocrisy. passing a wave of new voter suppression laws. election subversion laws, and democrats did nothing to stop those efforts. so now we're heading into an election in which voters are going to go to the polls under restrictive voting laws, under unfair ballots, under fair laws giving unprecedented powers to republicans who say the election was stolen and democrats have a narrow window to pass legislation to reverse it. that's why you're seeing senate democrats and the president make the case that the need is to do this now because there is no more time to wait. >> and change the filibuster but roughening into a brick wall when it comes to joe manchin. it seems like, i mean, i just wonder where do they have to go? joe manchin is talking about changing some of the rules. what rules is he talking about exactly? >> well, he's talking about changing rules that would allow the senate to function more smoothly. it would make it easier to debate bills, for example, but he hasn't embraced actually passing these bills with a simple majority vote. so there's been an asymmetry in tactics. whereas republicans at the state level have passed all of these anti-democracy measures through simple majority, party line votes. but joe manchin is saying you need a bipartisan supermajority in the senate to protect voting rights or to pass nearly any other piece of legislation. that created the odd situation where republicans can basically do anything they want to undermine democracy at the state level but democrats can't take any action to protect voting rights at the federal level because manchin and krysten sinema and others are supporting it. >> what about the threats from mitch mcconnell and i'll read you what he was saying today warning democrats about trying to change the filibuster. he said if my colleague, talking about chuck schumer, tries to break the senate to silence, millions of americans will make their voices heard in this chamber in ways more inconvenient for the majority and this white house than anybody has seen in this. it's the largest minority you can have. be careful what you wish for >>well, i'm sure there will be retribution from mitch mcconnell. i think it's also important that mcconnell already created an exception to the filibuster to confirm three justices for donald trump to the supreme court. so mcconnell already broke the senate. the senate is already broken. the question is what to do about it. right now the status quo benefits republicans. if no voting rights legislation passes, then all of these efforts to undermine democracy at the state level will be allowed to go into effect going forward. so right now it's on the democracies to try to change their rules to save american democracy. mitch mcconnell doesn't need to do anything because he's already broken the u.s. senate and republicans are undermining democracy at the state level. >> with the president there are voting groups who say, hey, listen, don't bother coming here unless you have concrete action. does he have concrete action? >> i think the president will lay out a pathway today to call the questions that the united states senate. and that's where the question has to be called. whether the united states senate has the courage and the conviction in this moment, in american history, to stand not with antiquated senate rule but stand with the protection of american democracy and voting rights. it's strong that the president is here. he's here at a historically black university, moorhouse college, which educated so many great leaders including martin luther king and the late mayor of this city. he's here in atlanta where dr. king's birthday will be want ared and honored next week. here in atlanta which is the front lines here in georgia of this fight against voter suppression. he's here in atlanta. a state which voted for him, that being the state of georgia in the past in the 2020 election. this is not just a near photo op. this is an understanding by the president that these are the front lines in this battle. this is ground zero in the fight for voting rights. we've encouraged. we pushed. we have demanded the president to take the step i expect him to take today. this is just the beginning of what i think will be an important battle to protect voting rights and save american democracy. >> does the president still have confidence in the voters he won over in georgia, mark? i ask this because he campaigned on being somebody who could convince the other side to vote for legislation. he's having a hard time. he's having a hard time with this legislation even within his own party. >> the difficult with this legislation is that the republican -- is so extreme here that there is a -- of members of the u.s. senate who happen to be republicans who historically, as recent of 2006, voted for voting rights who have now flip-flopped and changed their point of view on this issue. so that requires, i think, the president to recognize that while bipartisanship is a good thing, saving democracy is more important. let me tell you where the bipartisanship exists. it exists among the american people. because there are people across the political spectrum who recognize the importance of democracy. who recognize the importance of standing up for voting rights. if our leaders in washington, if the senate hears the american people, they will vote overwhelmingly. they'll vote with conviction. they'll vote with dispatch for the two bills. by any means necessary, if you can set the filibuster aside to, quote, "allow for trade promotion and trade agreements to be passed, the debt ceiling to be passed." then certainly you can set it aside for the protection of democracy, which is foundational to the nation we are. >> thank you so much for joining us. i know you had to move around a bit in order to 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investigating is rushing to convince former president mike pence to cooperate. since the committee was formed last summer, pence's lawyer and the panel have been talking informally. their conversations may be coming to an end. sources familiar with pence's thinking told the "new york times" he's grown annoyed that the committee is publiclily signaling it has secured a greater degree of cooperation from his top aids than it actually has. something he sees as part of a pattern of democrats trying to turn his team against mr. trump. well, mike pence considers his next move former president trump is focussed on the same move. his only move. he's now damning senator mike rounds for saying joe biden won the 20 election. joining me now is national hill reporter and punch bowl news cofounder and msnbc contributor anna palmer. let's talk about mike pence. the committee, obviously, wants to talk to him. to have a source close to him tell the "new york times" he's growing frustrated. what does it mean? what does it indicate? >> i think it is one of those indicators this is an all-democratic panel. mike pence does not want to get cross wise with donald trump more than he is. certainly not with his supporters, as he considers his own 2024 bid. this will be an issue that pence is going to have for them. and, you know, i wonder whether or not he was going to necessarily come and testify before them, but this is surprising as push comes to shove he's saying, hey, i don't want to be seen as a camp with democrats here. where republicans are they aren't participating or cooperating with the investigation. >> there are two republicans on the panel. liz cheney and adam king singer. so i just wonder is this really a situation where his own political future is more important to him. not saying anything than i guess his life being threatened last year? >> yeah. i can't get inside mike pence's head here, but i think he clearly is at odds with former president trump and the fact he moved to certify the election. that's something that has frustrated trump. i think all politicians are looking at their future. it's the fact of life. he's trying to find his pathway forward. there's adam and liz on the panel, it's something that kevin mccarthy and other republicans have -- big, you know, statement to say they aren't going to be a part of it. so i think that's the row you see pence trying to figure out how to actually, you know, kind of participate or maybe helpful in this process. but also not be seen as a democratic, you know, stooge that is kind of participate in this panel. >> all right. let's talk about what is going on. there's mike pence who may not cooperate the panel. it looks like he's not going to. he doesn't want to turn on trump. there are senators who are saying, listen, i don't care if you're going to endorse me or not. i'm going to tell the truth about the election that joe biden won. what is happening among republicans in the senate? >> this began two days ago when the senator of south dakota made the benign interview that the 2020 election was conducted fairly and that donald trump simply lost. that was enough to set off the former president who put out a scathing statement yesterday blasting mike rounds as weak and ineffective. calling haim rhino. it's code for republican in name only and pledging never to endorse my rounds for senate again. he stood by his comments he was what he said was correct, that the former president lost the 2020 election. that's factually speaking, accurate, as certified by election officials and governors all over the country. the former president's efforts to fight it in court were unsuccessful. if rounds wanted to be taken seriously, they need to tell the truth about something like this now. zooming out a little bit, mike rounds is speaking for something of a silent majority of senate republicans who know he's correct but don't want to step into the breach and battle with former president trump. they know they could be on the receiving end of a statement like this. they're afraid of that because the republican base still has a real trust and devotion that supports trump. so that's where things are right now. rounds is in a unique position where he just got re-elected in 2020 to a six-year term. he doesn't come before voters for another five and a half years. so not all republicans are in that position. i would not expect many of the others to take that same position and to publicly criticize or, you know, publicly find themselves at odds with the former president. even if means something as basic as joe biden fairly won the election. >> what about kevin mccarthy signaling for he takes over he'll strip democrats of their committee positions. >> an interesting preview here of a potential republican-controlled house next year, which appears more likely than not, if you look at the tide of history and the fact that president biden's approval rating is low. mccarthy is suggesting he'll use the precedent that democrats set to try to throw democratic member, if democrats are the minority off committee assignments. adam schiff of california, ill han omar minnesota. one thing that is -- they are conservatives of conservative media. it's no coincidence as mccarthy taughts to breitbart when he previewed what he was going to do, if he becomes speaker of the house in a year. >> thank you very much. up next a hearing on the u.s. response to omicron leads to another tense exchange between dr. fauci and senator rand paul. ense exchange between dr. fauci and senator rand paul. >> do you think it's appropriate to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists. >> i think in usual fashion, senator, you are distorting everything about me. >> there's a lot more to that exchange. then you had a lot of questions after dr. van gupta spoke to us yesterday about the best masks. he's back to answer your lingering queries. he's back to answer your he's back to answer your lingering queries. >> 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time. i'm still drawn to what's next. even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin that's a trail i want to take. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin. and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor about eliquis. we are looking at live pictures right now of president joe biden and vice president kamala harris laying a wreath at the crypt of martin luther king jr. in georgia. he's in atlanta today to try to push through the two voting rights acts he's advocating for in the senate. right now it looks like a long shot as he would need all senate democrats to get on board and to change the filibuster rules to pass it. he does have some issues running into changing that filibuster with at least senator joe manchin. he is using this day to try to remind voters, especially down in georgia, why they voted for him and why it is so necessary to get on top of fixing voting rights in this country. as there has been, according to democrats, an undemocratic push among many republicans to limit voter rights across the country in state houses. you see them right now at the crypt. joining me now is nbc news correspondent mike bemly with the president. this is one of the tools that the president has at his disposal. his ability to travel in air force 1 to draw huge crowds and make big speeches in important places to try to pressure lawmakers and pressure the public to pressure law makers to make changes. >> that's right. to a lot of his president's critics, critics in his own party, i should add, he wasn't doing it enough. i was with him in philadelphia last summer when he spoke at the national constitution center in somber and severe terms, at times, about the threat posed by the attack on voting rights that democrats see happening throughout state houses around the country. this is only his second major speech now on voting rights during the course of his presidency and his allies. among them is jim clyburn who plays a key role in getting him in office. using the last few days to remind the president the promise he made to voters, especially black voters to reward their loyalty. to reward their support by fighting for the issues that are so important to them. this is the most important issue to them right now. what is so interesting, katie, this is a moment when the president, when the white house is launching a full-court press for an issue a moment in time this week when the senate takes it up. they know they'll lose. there's no one who is saying anything other than that joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and other democrats may be in support of the legislation that the president is here to tout but not the process or procedural changes that need to be made in order for it to become law. but what we heard today from the president, speaking with kelly o'donnell on the south lawn, do what the president has done throughout his time in office on moments such as this. to raise the stakes. to talk about this as a real moment of choosing. that's the message he'll be delivering here later today, as well. >> mike, thank you so much. and turning back to the coronavirus pandemic. we've been hearing from doctors it's time to upgrade your masks, but masks are not one-size-fits all. different people have different needs and different budgets. back with me is msnbc medical contributor dr. vitamin gupta. thank you so much for being with us. i had a ton of questions after your segment. everyone was appreciative but they want more information. let us dive in. there are folks out there asking if it'll help to do double masking, if you can't get an n-95. >> so, katy, good afternoon, certainly if you would like. if you have that blue mask. for many drugstores you can get the blue masks. if you want to put on top a well-fitted clothe masks. we've been saying it the last 13 to 14 months even with the variants that double masks can get you the right combinations of quality and right fit. an option for those who don't want to spend additional money on the upgraded masks. >> what works and doesn't work, ignore when it comes to double masking. if you can't get your hands on a proper kn-95 or n-95 you can double mask with a cloth mask and surgical mask. there's a gentleman on twitter who said he's retired and living on a fixed income. he can't afford to buy the masks that you're recommending. is a cloth mask enough, if you're just going to the grocery store? >> i love what you said yesterday about the one-way masking and the individual mask assessments. we're entering a phase and i hope we'll be entering a phase where we'll be past the pandemic phase. so people are probably wondering do i need a kn-95 or n-95 mask. it comes down to individual risk for underlying health and what you'll tolerate. a koth mask is suboptimal and say i'm high risk, i can't afford exposure. i think with i have examples of masks n-95 and kn-95 masks that are less than a dollar a pop. if we can show those sites where folks went to purchase them. i went to the sites and they're available. however, that's still expensive because when we talk about not wanting to reuse the masks for more than say a few uses, if you live in a sunny place, you went to the grocery store, put that mask after you take it off in front of the sun for a few hours and you can rewear it. i recommend no more than two uses. it gets to the point here we have a list of medications that are dirt cheap for people that absolutely need those essential medications. this concept of making masks freely available, packets of masks for everybody in the united states, high-quality masks i think it's essential. i think the risks we face across the country, wild fires, respiratory, pandemics, these are only continue moving forward. >> we'll put the graphic back on the screen where you can get the more affordable masks, so everybody has that. one other question, facial hair. if you are a person who has a lot of facial hair, a beard or mustache, can you wear a mask and have it still have a tight sale? is it still effective? >> you know, we get the advice in health care, at least, there's never been a better time to go from a beard to a gotee than a respiratory pandemic. the reality you can't have a beard and feel like you have great tight seal with a res pa rater or kn-95 if you have the full, thick beard. i like the pencil mustache as an example. maybe the patch underneath the lips. those are options here. very good options, are very good looking as well. >> that goes out to my executive producer who has a pretty thick beard. aaron, it's time for a soul patch. i'm sure your wife will love it. thank you so much. there are more questions. you can all reach dr. gupta on twitter. and we appreciate it. thank you, sir. >> laugh about that soul patch idea for a while now. anyway, dr. anthony fauci and rochelle walensky were on capitol hill, answering questions about the administration's pandemic response. they appeared before the senate health committee. some of the most heated moments in the hearing got pretty personal. >> do you really think it's important to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists that disagree with you? >> i think in usual fashion, senator, you are distorted everything about me. senator, we are here at a committee to look at a virus now that has killed almost 900,000 people. and the purpose of the committee was to try and get things out how we can help to get the american public, and you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality. what happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden, that kindles the crazies out there, and i have threats upon my life, harassment of my family, and my children. so i ask myself, why would senator want to do this? so go to rand paul website, and you see fire dr. fauci with a little box that says, contribute here. you can do $5, $10, $20, $100. so you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain. >> oh, boy. apart from the fiery exchanges, the country's top health officials attempted to clarify the cdc's new quarantine guidelines. they also laid out plans to remedy the shortage of at-home tests. we'll wait and see how that goes. up next, tax season has barely started, so why is the treasury department already warning refunds could be delayed? y warning refunds could be delayed? they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ inner voice (sneaker shop owner): i'm surprising my team with a preview of the latest sneaker drop. because i can answer any question about any shoe. but i'm stumped when it comes to payroll. intuit quickbooks helps you easily run payroll in less than 5 minutes... ...so you can stay... one step ahead. we may be less than two weeks into the new year, but the federal government says now is the time to start thinking about tax season. the irs is already warning it could be a frustrating process because of challenges posed by the pandemic and years of budget cuts. including possible delayed tax refunds. so, is there anything you can do? nbc's tom costello has some answers. >> reporter: good day. the bottom line for the irs, they are understaffed, they are underbudgeted right now. and they are way behind. the pandemic and staffing shortages have certainly contributed to that. tax law changes are another reason. that means it could be a very long wait for you if you file your taxes especially using the paper forms. the april 18th deadline is coming up fast. the april 18th tax filing deadline may be more than three months away, but the treasury department is warning americans now. that the upcoming tax filing season could be frustrating. agency officials say they're facing enormous challenges. among them, the pandemic. >> there's lot more work for the irs to do with a lot fewer staff members doing it. >> while the u.s. population has grown over the past half century, irs staffing is now at the same level it was more than 50 years ago. with fewer than 15,000 workers available last year to handle more than 240 million calls. to make matters worse, the agaenls is using outdated technology and has also seen its budget slashed nearly 20% over the past ten years. the best way to avoid refund delays this year, file early. electronically. and ditch the paper forms. as of last month, the agency still had a backlog of millions of unprocessed returns from the year before. for those who made less than $73,000, the irs offers free file. and companies like h & r block and turbo tax offer their own software for e-filing, too. >> e-filing with direct deposit, that's the quickest way to get your tax refund. >> the irs says people who file electronically with direct deposit should not experience issues and should receive their refund within 21 days. >> so it's important to file electronically to make sure that everything is accurate and that it's filed electronically so you can possibly get your refund sooner rather than later. >> the average size of the refund, $2800. one that could come in handy if you're paying off the holiday debt. experts say the key here is organization and prep. it may be three months away, but the sooner you start organizing, the better. back to you. >> a little cuba gooding jr. in jerry maguire. show me the money. that's it for me. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next. remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80, what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health 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