there's nobody out here. >> fortunately, now 2,000 deaths per day is going to be the new normal. >> the world waits for the ultimate weapon to battle the pandemic to officially arrive. >> don't let joe biden take credit for the vaccine. >> the political theater absolute hi has ly has to stop. >> we're at war with a virus, not with one another. iran has accused israel of being behind the assassination of its top nuclear scientist. >> it's a two-fold effect, the one is to slow down the program. the other one is to make it impossible for united states to engage iran after january 20th. ♪ this is "new day weekend" with victor blackwell and christi paul. >> i hope you are seeing a picture like that wherever you are this morning. that sunshine, autumn, in all of its glory there. and the white house, of course, at 8:01 on this saturday morning. we're grateful to have you with us. i hope thanksgiving was good for you. i do have to tell you, these next several days could be the most critical yet in the fight against coronavirus. because the concern about a post holiday spike in the most populous county in the u.s. is taking dramatic action. >> for people living in los angeles county, if they're not in the same hosshold, they cannot get together. there's a now stay-at-home order. it does not include church services or protests. this goes in effect on monday because of what officials are calling an alarming leveling of new covid-19 cases. cnn's polo sandoval is following this and many other threads of the pandemic. polo, how long will the restrictions last? and what do we know about enforcement? >> reporter: at least about three weeks here, victor. and what l.a. county officials are trying to do here, urging people not only to stay home, but to stay socially distanced. they're asking people, at least prohibiting the gatherings, be it private or public outside of individuals' houses. this goes back to a couple weeks ago which l.a. county set the threshold of 3500. that was the key number. should the five-day average of new cases either reach that or exceed that, then these additional measures would kick in. and that is precisely what happened yesterday. as of today, more than 19,000 californians have lost their lives to the coronavirus. until yesterday, only two states new york and texas had reached that sobering milestone. >> we're in the most dangerous public health crisis this nation has faced. at least for the last hundred years. we're going easily to 200,000 new cases per day, it will be accelerated because of the thanksgiving holiday. it will be accelerated again over christmas. and i'm so upset about the deaths. >> reporter: those death rates, along with the number of infections and hospitalizations continue climbing throughout much of the country with front line health care workers putting their lives on the line to save patients. >> it is disheartening to see some of our colleagues or nurses or respiratory therapists or physicians, falling ill and looking them in the eyes to see how this is impacting them. this is as real as it can be. and we have to, we have to follow all of the things that we know work. >> reporter: including mask wearing, social distancing and following post-thanksgiving advice to quarantine when in doubt about possible exposure. health officials say that's especially fortunate if you attended a holiday gathering this week with guests outside of your household or people not taking precautions. >> if you expanded your bubble over thanksgiving, the cdc asks us to stay quarantined for 14 days. we're going to do everything we can to get as close as possible. >> reporter: multiple health experts are warning that the latest spike hasn't even peaked. and likely to worsen significantly in the coming weeks, putting a bigger strain on hospitals across the country. >> people can't get their serious surgeries if there's no icu beds available because of covid. this is becoming a tragedy within a tragedy. >> reporter: in a race to secure a safe covid vaccine, the krscd advisory committee will be holding a hearing voting on who will be first vaccinated. the world health organization also calling for more research on a vaccine candidate being developed by astrazeneca, a dosing mishap in the trial gave a small group of study subjects less dosage but was more effective than the planned dose leading to questions about their trial. we should also point out that there's still plenty of hospitals across the country that are doing okay. they are able to keep their head well above water. in fact, here in new york, mt. sinai is one of them. the chief medical officer said, yes, they are seeing a sharp increase in covid patients. however, those numbers are still well within their ability to actually take care of those patients, victor. but a point to point out, that doesn't apply to others in the country. we brought the stories to doctors, nurses to the viewers, almost every day of the doctors and nurses doing everything they can to try to save the lives of their patients. yet, they're still caught in the cries. >> so many across the country in big cities and small. polo sandoval, thanks so much. the experts fear that we're letting our guards down because of the holiday, that's going to add to the coronavirus surge that we're witnessing. i asked dr. abdul syed about his concerns. >> i want to be clear about something. when the historians write about the covid-19 pandemic, they're not going to write about the first 100 days that we all experienced as a shock. they're going to write unfortunately likely about this spike in covid-19. because this is the moment when, unfortunately, we're starting to see the kind of acceleration and the kind of spread of covid-19. not just in speed. but also in geography, right? in the past, we had covid-19 spikes relegated to a number of cities with a lot of international travel. unfortunately now, over the summer, it's had an opportunity to spread at a low grade into every nook and cranny of this country. >> thankfully, you know that they're on the horizon. they expects the vaccines to go to people with health care reasons. staying with the pandemic, president-elect joe biden says that he will listen to the experts and the scientists. >> cnn's rebecca buck is following the latest from washington. rebecca, what are you hearing this morning, regarding the biden administration's plan for distributing the coronavirus vaccine? >> reporter: well, as a the candidate, joe biden said he would listen to the recommendations and indeed we're expecting them to do when the cdc meets to recommend who should get the vaccine first. the doctor on the advisory panel for biden when it comes to the coronavirus, said he intends to follow the recommendation when it comes to vaccinating certain people. she said the people you might think of would be the first in line, elderly people, first responders, health care workers, people that would make them more susceptible to a more serious form of the virus. but the key here, she said, in terms of biden's response is not to politicize this and to really just heed the expert advice and follow the data wherever it may lead. obviously, a very stark contrast to what we have seen over the course of the past year in terms of the current administration and how they have starkly criticize the coronavirus pandemic. already the team has planned ahead for how they're going to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. this week, the general services administration, as you all know, ascertained biden's victory as president-elect. that means his team is able to coordinate with federal government officials. get access to federal information when it comes to planning for the pandemic. of course there say lot of planning to do, not only in terms of how they're going to respond to the pandemic itself. we're expecting a very difficult winter ahead. and spikes across the country. hospitals filling up. that would be one element. of course, there are logistics rolled out already. some pieces put in place by the current administration. but biden has to finish the job when he takes office next year. the planning for that is well underway. christi, victor. >> rebecca buck, thank you so much. kevin liptak now at the white house. yesterday, and good morning to you, wisconsin's largest county certified its election results. and president-elect joe biden picked up even more votes. anything from the white house or the campaign on that? >> reporter: well, the campaign is signaling that they'll appeal the decision. what they're trying to do is essentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of absentee ballots. but the time is running out. the deadline to certify the vote in wisconsin is tuesday. and, remember, the president requested this recount. he paid $3 million for it. the result yesterday was 132 more votes for joe biden than before. meanwhile, the president is still spouting these false claims about the election, even after he said he would be willing to leave the white house when the electoral college affirms joe biden's win in december. he's placing some conditions on that now, he wrote on twitter, biden can only enter the white house as president if he can prove that his ridiculous 80 million votes were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. the only person having trouble proving anything in this is the president himself. there's actually ample proof that the election was not fraudulent. whether it's statements from federal government, democratic and republican state officials who have also said there is no widespread voter fraud in all of this. the president continues to see his legal cases collapse in all of this. the latest came in pennsylvania with another scathing decision from a judge. this time, a federal appeals judge who was actually appointed by the president himself, saying calling the election unfair doesn't make it so. and saying ballots determine presidents, not briefs. while the president is continuing all of this, he's continuing to try to sow doubt among his supporters about the results of the election. but if you needed any indication that the president knows his term is coming to an end, it's this rash of rule making pardons. and the president is fully aware that he will not be president after january 20th. >> kevin, i want to ask you about something else making headlines this morning. what we're learning about the justice department that perhaps they may be trying to speed up some changes that involve criminals on death row regarding rules around methods of execution. i don't think i've heard of firing squads much before this, but what do you know? >> reporter: yeah, so this is another example of the trump administration trying to push these rules through before the president's term ends. and what it does is it expands the type of executions, the methods of executions, that could be used. and in this case, they specify electrocution and firing squads. now, this would be used in cases where the normal method of execution, which is lethal injection, isn't available. and this would be only for federal executions. now, there's no indication at this point that the federal government is planning to execute anyone by firing squad. but what this rule does is allows in the future if a lethal injection isn't available in states that do allow these alternate forms of execution, if the crime was committed in those states that could be used by the federal government. now, this is all coming as president trump and his attorney general bill barr are seeking to rush through these executions, to finalize these executions. right now, there are five federal inmates set to be executed before the president leaves office. joe biden said he opposes the death penalty. it's not clear that he would halt the executions. if the executions all go forward before the president leaves it would be the most during a presidential transition since 1884, guys. >> oh, my goodness. kevin liptak, we appreciate it so much. thank you. iran is vowing to retaliate for the killing of one of its top nuclear scientists. coming up, we speak with jason raside, imprisoned in iran about these developments. lawmakers in taiwan, oh, they're throwing pig guts at the premiere. what led to this? we'll talk about it. stay close. some hot cocoa? mom, look! are you okay? head home this holiday with the one you love. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedes-benz winter event. ...this one's for you. you inspired us to make your humira experience even better... with humira citrate-free. it has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, there's less liquid, and a thinner needle... with less pain immediately following injection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. and you can use your co-pay card to pay as little as $5 a month. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections,... ...including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,... ...as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,... ...serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common... and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections,... or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your doctor about humira citrate-free. the same humira you trust with less pain immediately following injection. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. new video in now of protests in iran after the killing of the country's top nuclear scientist. protesters, some of them students have been burning american flags, israeli flags while chanting "down with israel." mohsen fakhrizadeh was assassinated outside of tehran. top iranian officials blame israel but have not provided evidence of that claim. so far, israel is not saying anything about the killing. jason rezaian spent 18 months in jailed after being convicted of alleged espionage in 20 the 15. he was released in 2016. joining us now is jason rezaian, a cnn global affairs analyst and "washington post" global opinions writer. jason, good morning to you. first, this name, famohsen fakhrizadeh, just talk to us about him. >> thank you for having me on. mohsen fakhrizadeh has been the top scientist for 30 years. and it's not a household name because the government of iran would like to protect his identity and the identity of people working on the program. in 2018, when israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu revealed that israel had obtained a cache of iranian nuclear documents, fakhrizadeh's name is put out. and secretary of state mike pompeo in his first major speech as secretary of state which was specifically about iran also folk of fakhrizadeh. >> iran is blaming israeli. as i said at the top, israel is not claiming responsibility. the u.s. is not saying who is responsible, potentially. but if you had to list out, for lack of a better term, suspect here, would israel be atop that list? >> yes, israel would be on top of that list for a couple regions. their intelligence services in mosad are the most trained and developed in that part of the world. they have a history of targeting iranian assets inside iran and around the region. and they have good reason to want to curtail iran's nuclear program. also, they want to make it very difficult for president-elect joe biden to restart any negotiations with tehran. so, it seems like they're the likely culprit. whether or not they ever decide to take credit for it. >> let's talk about that, i ask the general hertling about it in the last hour from the military perspective, but with that, now if israel is responsible, now would be the time to execute this type of attack? >> well, there is a very short window. we're looking at, i guess, seven weeks now until president-elect biden takes office. israel, saudi arabia, other gulf arab nations are concerned about the prospect of new talks about between the u.s. and iran. they -- if you call, in 2015, when iran and world powers were negotiating over iran's nuclear program. at that point, those same countries did not want to see that deal happen. and they're very concerned that president biden will re-enter that deal. or come up with a new deal with iran, which will kind of, you know, flush all of their plans from the last four years of the trump administration down the toilet. >> former defense minister in iran, military adviser to the ayatollah khamenei overnight said the response to this killing will be like lightning. and you've got them being moved into the persian gulf. the military saying that's for that. would that be hyperbolic at this point? >> look, i think we've been on the verge of a major escalation with iran since the very beginning of this year, when we decided to assassinate their top general who was in iraq, general sulimani. it's been an incredibly tense year. there has been lots and lots of back and forth. but i think part of the plan is try to goad iran into a begged response. the reality, victor, the iran does not have the military capabilities to stand up to any kind of battle with the u.s., israel or any of our regional allies, who are much better prepared militarily, have much bigger arsenals than iran does. so, you know, i think iran is very good at heightening the rhetoric. but i doubt that you'll see any major response. and i think one really important thing to lremember here this isa major failure of iran's military apparatus. it's not the first nuclear scientist that has been assassinated inside of iranian borders. part of the protests we saw earlier is asking the question, how is this possible? who is defending our country? i think that's a question that the iranian leadership has to answer. >> yeah, we're ending 2020 pretty much in a place, not a direct comparison, but where we started with the killing of qassem soleimani. and just from the response, saying the book is not closed on the response from that. if there's something that we saw more with the missile strike in baghdad that i should say injured -- gave brain injury, or caused brain injuries in more than 100 troops. but no one was thrilled. no life-threatening bodily harm to the troops. we'll see what the next step is. jason rezaian, thank you for being here with us this morning. >> thank you. >> congratulations on the new baby. >> thanks so much. >> what's his name? >> justice. >> justice, that's a great name. have a good morning. >> you, too. >> christi. >> i liked the end of that conversation better than the one i'm going to have right now. i can't believe i have to tell you this in the morning or anytime, there was a vicious brawl that broke out in taiwan yesterday during a parliament meeting and lawmakers from taiwan there -- do you see what they're throwing there? i don't know you know what that is, but i will tell you, it's disgusting. they're slinging buckets of pig guts, yes, pig guts, to the premier. all of this coming out of banned in the europe and china. saying it's a free market and no one is forced to eat the meat. those condemned the process saying it was a waste of food and, goquote, disgusting. >> i can't even get like my belt and my cell phone through some of the scanners. how did they get buckets of pig guts? anyway, a lot of mom and pop businesses barely hanging on during the pandemic. it's small business saturday. and find a small business. we'll talk about how these small businesses really need your help. ♪ ♪ ♪ since pioneering the suv in 1935, the chevy suburban has carried many things. nothing more important than family. introducing the most versatile and advanced chevy suburban and tahoe ever. with priceline, you can get up to 60% off amazing hotels. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. but you can work out anything wowith comcast business.w. get fast, reliable, and secure internet on the nation's largest gig speed network. flexible tools - like wi-fi you control. voice solutions that connect you from anywhere. and expert advice here, here, or even here. be fast. be flexible. bounce forward with comcast business. get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just $64.90 a month. plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. switch today. well, the man fired by president trump for calling the 2020 election, quote, the most secure in history said americans should have 100% confidence in their vote. >> there's an interview with "60 minutes" with chris krebs, the director of the cyber security infrastructure agency saying there's no evidence that voting was infiltrated by any foreign actors. >> let me ask for your reaction to some of the vote fraud that the president and his team has been alleging. votes tabulated in foreign countries. >> so, all votes in the united states of america, are counted in the united states of america. i don't -- i don't understand this claim. all votes of united states of america are counted in the united states of america, period. >> communist money from china and cuba used to influence the election. >> look, i think these -- we can go on and on with all of the fars farcical claims with the election. but the proof is in the ballots. recounts are consistent with the initial count. to me, that's further evidence, that's confirmation that the systems used in the 2020 election performed as expected. and the american people should have 100% confidence in their vote. house majority w.h.i.p. james clyburn president-elect joe biden to appoint more black people to positions. clyburn, you know this is an influential figure in south carolina politics, in american politics, he endorsed biden in february before south carolina's democratic primary. and biden's win in south carolina then catapulted him to the nomination. biden nominated kamala harris to be vice president, as nominee for u.n. ambassador and i always spoke to cnn's errol louis about the key roles that jim clyburn is looking to fill. >> now, what jim clyburn wants is maybe more than people expected. he wants to name the dnc chair. he wants a fellow south carolinian to be in charge of the party nationally. he wants more black appointees to more serious departments. not just -- i think he has a candidate for that, too. he wants to help name the head of agriculture. very important in south carolina, by the way. he wants to help name the new attorney general who would be in charge of the justice department. this is -- you know, this is politics. this is as real as it gets. the old adage is that you fight with your enemies before the election. and after the election, you fight with your friends. all right. let's talk about small business saturday, because that's what we are doing today. it was initially started on a saturday after thanksgiving to encourage people to get out of the malls and support small businesses. well, ten years later, we're in the midst of a pandemic. and it may be even more important to shop local this holiday season. ted jenkin, chief financial executive add oxygen financial right now. good to see you. in doing this segment, i learned a lot about small business that i didn't really know how they really proper up our community. how much they give to us. help us understanding supporting them right now? >> let's remember, christi, small businesses create 64% of all private sector jobs. and every dollar this holiday season that you spend locally, in your local business community, 70 cents of that dollar stays within the community. that small business owner reinvests 25% of that back into the community. yes, we care about the economy, but we should reinvest in the local economy. >> how are they doing? >> it's a mixed bag. it's a barbell economy. you have retailers, mom and pop restaurants that got hammered. and areas in sectors like home improvement that have skyrocketed. ppe, it does save businesses here. but in the same token, there are billions of dollars in small bankruptcies in businesses than didn't make it. yelp recently did a study, 60% of businesses that said they were going to temporarily close. this is 100,000 businesses, christi, now say they're going to permanently close. i don't think we've seen the end of the carnage of small businesses going bankrupt. >> we're just coming off of black friday. a lot of that extending through the weekend, obviously. but small businesses get on that bandwagon as well. we can get deals from them right now, in our support, yes? >> well, definitely, you mentioned at the top, it's small business saturday for participating retailers. you can get 5% to 15% off. look, if you're uncomfortable going into a local store. you can get online or on the phone. one thing that you can do with a local business owner, christi, that you cannot do on walmart or target is negotiate. you want a pair of boots, a handbag. they want to make a deal because you have to stock up on revenue in case there are more curfews or another lockdown. it's an important holiday season. >> on that note, what do you know about a second round of ppe? how vital is it? >> i think we'll have something, christi, coming down the road. 90% of ppe money it's always been spent by business owners. we're kind of in that fork in the road where we say do we let capitalism take its course and some businesses survive in the changing economy. or do we inject more money in the system and try to give the business owners another chance to make it in the next wave of the pandemic. i think we'll see some skinnied down version of the ppe over the next several months. >> bottom line, support your local businesses. they do an awful lot to keep us going, too. >> ted jenkin, always appreciated it, sir. thank you. >> thanks, christi. could be a huge day in college football for this young woman. why she's about to do something that no other woman has done before. may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer today for exceptional lease and financing offers at the mercedes-benz winter event. but today there's a combination of two immunotherapies you can take first. one that could mean... a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pd-l1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. it's the first and only approved chemo-free combination of two immunotherapies that works together in different ways to harness the power of the immune system. opdivo plus yervoy equals a chance for more days. more nights. more beautiful weekends. more ugly sweaters. more big hugs. more small outings. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. this may happen during or after treatment has ended and can become serious and lead to death. some of these problems may happen more often when opdivo is used with yervoy. see your doctor right away if you have a new or worse cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain; nausea or vomiting; dizziness; fainting; extreme tiredness; weight changes; constipation; excessive thirst; changes in urine or eyesight; rash; itching; confusion; memory problems; muscle pain or weakness; joint pain; flushing; fever; or tingling in hands and feet. these are not all the possible side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant or lung, breathing, or liver problems. here's to a chance for more together time. a chance to live longer. ask your doctor about opdivo plus yervoy. thank you to all involved in our clinical trials. well, the buckeyes have to cancel a football game today because of coronavirus concerns. >> carolyn manno has more in today's "bleacher report." carolyn, good morning. tell us about it. >> good morning to you both. as a loyal ohioan, christi knows how loved this team is. looking to 5-0 this afternoon but that's not going to come to fruition after further outbreaks of coronavirus in the program. the buckeyes facility is shut down. all team activities suspended after head coach ryan day and several other members testing positive for covid-19. this is the second buckeye game called off this season. one more may lose them a shot at the big ten title. meantime, the nfl is ordering their teams to close their facilities monday and tuesday, citing a rise of covid around the country and also increase in travel during the holiday weekend. that did not apply to the teams playing the monday night and now tuesday night's game. the ravens and steelers are squaring off on tuesday after a coronavirus outbreak on the ravens squad. if that happens, initially scheduled for thursday night, will also be moved back. despite coming in as heavy underdogs. five time major wins phil mickelson and charles barkley cruising through the victory of the match on friday. providing plenty entertainment. the pair got off to a hot start with peyton manning. and they kept the pressure on all the way. barkley knew it was over and wanted the bosses to get ready for a short day. >> hey, do me say favor, call jim zucker and craig berry. tell them to get some of those "law & order" reruns ready. -i got eight more holes. >> it was a fun afternoon for the post thanksgiving crowd hungry for golf and a great opportunity to give back. the event raise the $5.5 million for historically black colleges and universities. and 3.5 million meals were donated to feeding america. and college football history expected to be made as kicker sarah fuller suits up for vanderbilt. fuller has made the trip to missouri. if she plays she'll be the first woman to play for a power 5 conference school. she's a soccer player, goal kicker and tried out added to the roster after several other specialist has to go into quarantine due to testing. she posted let's make history. #play like a girl. #anchor down. she's also wearing that phrase play like a girl. that's a reference to a nonprofit helping girls in career opportunities as well. we're all ready for her around noon time. >> you know it, me and my girls ready to watch that one and cheer her on. >> thank you, carolyn manno. we have a programming note, "this is life" with lisa ling. it is back. premieres tomorrow night. here's a preview. >> what would you say young men need most right now? >> you are not broken. >> gives me a place to be heard. >> they're saving money here. >> go after it. ♪ >> do you feel nervous about what's going to happen after? >> but that's part of life. ♪ >> are your doctors learning from you? >> only physically. >> what does it feel like to carry the hopes of these men? >> no more dividing, stand together! >> in different parts of the world, but we're fighting for the same thing. >> it takes courage to take a stand for what is right in this world. >> it's comical. >> right. >> "this is life" with lisa ling, back-to-back episodes tomorrow at 9:00 on cnn. >> you don't want to miss it. we always learn so much about people. "this is life" with lisa ling, premiering with back-to-back episodes tomorrow night right here on cnn. japanese officials are blaming the covid-19 pandemic for a significant increase in the number of suicides. we're going to take a deeper look into the mental health toll of the pandemic, next. the financial challenges, the isolations, the fears of actually contracting the virus, all caused by the covid-19 pandemic. and they're contributing to an increase in mental health problems around the world. earlier in the pandemic, the world health organization said that it was concerned about the effect on people's mental health. >> yeah. in japan, in particular are seeing a severe increase in the number of deaths by suicide particularly among women. cnn's selina wang reports from tokyo. >> reporter: erica kobayashi tried to kill herself four times. >> translator: i was really poor. i'm ashamed to say it. i shoplifted then. i worked full time, overtime, but did not have enough money to live. >> reporter: she was working for a publishing company but couldn't make ends meet. now she works at an ngo, but since the pandemic, the stress she felt back then is now back. >> translator: my salary was cut. i can't see the light end of the tunnel. i constantly feel the crisis that i might fall back into poverty. >> reporter: japanese women bearing the brunt of pandemic, working in industries like hotel, food service and retail. >> translator: japan has been ignoring women. it's a society where the weakest people are cut off first. >> reporter: in october, more japanese died of suicide than from ten months of covid-19. partly driven by suicide among women which increased 80% from the previous year. >> translator: they're suffering so much, they just feel it's better to die. >> reporter: this person started a mental health hotline in march. 70% of the people asking for help are women. >> they lost their jobs, and they need to raise their kids. but they don't have any monies. they attempt suicide. >> reporter: his nonprofit receives about 200 messages a day. koki says his 600 volunteers are not enough to keep up with the volume. >> and with messages -- i'm accepting messages like i'm raped by father, by father. or my husband tried to kill me. >> reporter: wow, because of the pandemic? >> because of the pandemic, yes. and before the pandemic they like a place that they can escape, like the schools or the office. >> reporter: japan has long struggled with one of the highest suicide rates in the world. but the number had been decreasing up until the pandemic. the government has invested in suicide prevention. but eriko says it also requires changing society. >> translator: it's shameful for others to know your weakness and misery. so, you hide everything and endure. we need to create a culture where it's okay to show your weakness. >> reporter: several japanese celebrities have taken their lives in recent months which often causes an increase in suicide in the general public. a 22-year-old professional wrestler and reality tv star died of suicide after a barrage of hate on social media. her mother says the pandemic has compounded the challenges for women. >> translator: the women used to take care of children and the household. now, they have to work as well. so, all of the social strain piles up on the woman. >> reporter: now in her 40s, eriko is much better with dealing with her anxiety. and hopes that speaking publicly about her fears more people will do so and realize they are not alone, before it's too late. selina wang, cnn, tokyo. >> listen, if you or someone you love needs support, or needs someone to talk to. please call this number. 1-800-273-8255. that's 1-800-273-8255. talk. people are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for you. coming up in the 10:00 hour, we're going to talk about all of the misinformation that's being spread right now. we've got a guest, "the new york times" writer who dove into the facebook feeds two of baby boomers. he said what he found was a nightmare. he's going to share what he saw, what he found. we're going to learn what he collected. and what we can learn from that. that's all coming up in the 10:00 hour. be sure to join us then. >> we will see you then, but do stay close, "smerconish" is coming up next. this is advanced hydration with key nutrients that support your immune system to help you feel more confident whether you're heading out here, or even in here. get ready, with the advanced hydration of pedialyte. find a stock basedtech. on your interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. amazon was primed for a pandemic. i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. yesterday was so-called black friday which i always thought was the day when retailers historically moved from the red to black, from deficit to profitability. there's another exchangeplanati originated here in philadelphia in 1951 police used the term to refer to heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic amidst a pandemic, nothing could seem like a more dated prospect than the