Colorado. The fact that you have a virus that spreads more efficiently is something thats important and needs to be taken seriously. Consider this, by new years day, the country could hit a staggering 20 million infections. The numbers going in the wrong direction coast to coast across this country. Hospitalizations in l. A. For instance have stored 1,000 in just two months and with 800,000 people filing new unemployment claims this morning, Mitch Mcconnell dashing hopes for 2,000 stimulus checks but the outstanding question this morning, could that effort be revived in the new congress . Thats where were going to begin. Im joined by Steve Patterson in los angeles and dr. Derek haas. Steve, ill start with you on this one. The numbers surging there, hospitals struggling to keep up. Were learning that california is now the second state confirmed to have this more infectious version, this variant of the coronavirus. What can you tell us . Reporter that variant was found according to San Diego Health officials in a 30yearold san diego man who had no prior travel history, which may mean that it is circulating further in the community in southern california, news that nobody wants to hear, specifically in a region that is so hardhit. Here in l. A. County they have not confirmed that variant is in this county but they do say it could possibly be here and theyre doing testing to try to confirm that, as the moment goes on. They also say that it is maybe more could be tagious, it is no more deadly at least at this time and combating it using the same tactics that they would combining this original strain, but man, are they having a hard time battling against this coronavirus, specifically here in l. A. County, where theyve crossed over 10,000 deaths, where the average estimate is one person dies every ten minutes from covid19 here in l. A. County. The hospitals are overloaded. Mortuaries and morgues are packed. People that are being transported to these hospitals and ers and icus that are taking inness bl nesambulances sometim be treated in the ambulance before offloaded or treated in the waiting room. When they get into the hospital, many patients are being treated in the hospital hallways before they get into those ers and icus and now doctors and nurses are making tough decisions on who gets what treatment, who gets the intubator, who gets on an icu unit. Who has the available treatment plan from nurses to be able to see two or three or four patients at the exact same time. Weve been speaking to nurses here in l. A. County. One who says he feels there is a loss of control, something he hasnt felt before. Listen to what he said. Honestly its the first time in my nursing career i feel i dont have any control or we dont have control because its not in our hands. At this point its all in the publics hands on whether they conform to the rules or they dont. Reporter the messaging from the Health Department is begging people not to travel for new years, not to go and socialize even though it is a holiday, a lot of people want to see friends and family. They are now tweeting every ten minutes about the loss of a person in l. A. County, just as an example to the community about how devastating this virus is and if we dont do something, the community itself, if they dont do something, this could get worse in the coming weeks. Back to you. All right, Steve Patterson, thank you. Want to turn to an er Doctorate Columbia University medical center. As i was listening to steve, i dont know about you, it really caught me the grim picture thats painting especially in the state of california specifically los angeles, when you think about the icu numbers, the hospitals just being completely and totally overwhelmed, the picture that he paints for so many of us, and now in a position where doctors and nurses Front Line Health Care workers are having to choose who gets what treatment. Where does that put folks like you . So i want to be really clear about that. The most important thing for the state of california and l. A. County toe do is make the decisions before patients get to the door and they are working on that. Were seeing l. A. County ems put out notifications who should and should not be transported to the hospital if for some reason you die and you lose vital signs outside the hospital, whether you would be transported. Its really important for patients to understand the doctors and nurses on the front line are doing the best they can with what they have, but the most important thing patients can do is find out before they go to the hospital is it an emergency . Use the Telehealth Services and other resources to make sure they dont crowd those ers. Patients in l. A. Are waiting hours in the ambulance bay on stretchers just to get in the front door and those are the sickest of the sick patients. So please, help us help you, and stay out of the ers if you can and help us stop the spread of this virus. So i hear you on this. I totally understand what youre saying, but i need you to clarify something, because as you can understand, a lot of folks are scared, especially in that area, and weve heard about folks dying at home alone, and we know how this virus works. You can go from zero to 60 in a day, one day you report in to your physician, telehealth and youre fine, youre at home, youre quarantining. The next day youre hospitalized, and some folks feel like ten days later, youre dead. Nobody wants to be in that position, and so immediately feel uncomfortable going in the hospital. How do you judge that . Thats why preparation is key. What weve been saying in new york since the start and learned our lesson here in the spring is if this virus is in your community and it is in every community, prepare now for the idea that it could get in your family. Have a plan, have a way to contact your doctor, know the local telehealth service, get tested early, quarantine, stop the spread of the virus. Have a pulse ox, the finger tip oxygen machines that show you the numbers on so you know when to go to the hospital early. Have the data behind you. We want people to be empowered with information and get the patients to the hospital so we can take care of and save but realize that with stretched resources and no new physicians, nurses or respiratory therapists there will be a limit to how much care we can provide. I want to talk about this new variant while i have you, and one of the questions that i have is the fact that its much more infect, 70 more. What does that mean . Does that mean if you and i are in the same room together and dont have masks on the likelihood of me getting the virus from you if youre positive is a heck of a lot higher . Thats exactly what it means and thats the highest risk to the community is when we dont use those same Public Health measures of masking, distancing and staying only with the nuclear families, this virus will spread faster and although its not more deadly, its not causing more hospitalizations per the number of people thats infected, once you get to a higher number of infections, youre going to see those hospitalizations and deaths rise. So what were seeing about this new strain is very simple. Are Public Health measures working to stop this strain, too and hopefully so will our vaccine. Were still in a good place with the vaccinations so please, realize this will spread faster when we let our guards down, its another reason not to let your guard down. So you said something really important that i just want to finish on, hopefully so will our vaccines. Folks have been saying the vaccine covers this variant. Do we have any conclusive evidence to back that claim up, because it doesnt seem like studies have been done on this specific variant, since its new . Well thats the thing. This entire pandemic has been new questions asking for answers before we get a chance to have the data. This vaccine, there is no evidence this vaccine wont work and thats the best we can say and well move because we know what the protein variant has done. People are looking for certainty in Uncertain Times and i want to be clear. We need to move forward with the information we have, because this information will work if we use it. And that means get vaccinated when its your chance, stay home if you can, and wear a mask all the time. With that, we will be okay. Its so true what you said psychologically. 2021 is a little more certain. Happy new year to you, by the way. This morning, everybody, we got another reminder that millions of americans are looking for work. 787,000 people filed for Unemployment Benefits for the first time last week, more than 5 million filed continuing claims. Mitch mcconnell is blocking another stimulus check. The 600 checks signed into law after christmas are going out, some already inside peoples bank accounts. Im joined by Washington Post political reporter libby casey. Welcome to you all, good to see you once again. Im going to start with you on this one and i want to get to the Mitch Mcconnell note. Some folks tweeting i have 600, enough for food for the next two weeks or so but what about the rent and the rest of my expenses. Is there any open door in a 2021 congress . Reporter yazmin that depends on what happens next tuesday in georgia. If republicans hold at least one of the two seats, they will remain in control of the senate and Mitch Mcconnell will remain the majority leader. Hes not fond of its the 2,000 checks. Theres no reason to believe hes going to be willing to grant that wish to a democrat president. Trump and bide an debris the 2,000 checks should happen. Democrats are much more determined to continue that fight into the new year. I spoke to several of them including ed markey, the senator from massachusetts, this is just the beginning. Senator Bernie Sanders is going to fight this in the new year as well, according to all indications, so democrats win both those seats in georgia, they will capture control of the senate. They will have the house and the presidency, and theres good reason then to believe this issue will be alive. I think its going to come down to whether its divided government in which case unlikely to happen or a unified democratic control of government in which case the 2,000 check are a live political issue. Senator Lindsey Graham was talking about this on fox. I want to play a bit of what he said about the stimulus checks. So to my fiscal conservative friends, i understand your argument, but i think the facts on the ground throughout the country would require us to do more than 600. 600s not enough. S it 2,000 is about right in my opinion. Im willing to vote. Monica, its interesting, because the other day i said someone on the show. We know Lindsey Graham is one of the president s closest golfing buddies. Maybe if Mitch Mcconnell took a page out of Lindsey Grahams book and he got on board as well. Overall, where are we on this . Is this where Lindsey Graham has taken a page from the president . We do know he was with him over the weekend, down here in south florida golfing. What is also notable, yasmin, theres no more golf on the schedule at least here for the time being. The president is going to be leaving florida in the next 45 minutes or so, and heading back to washington, d. C. , so potentially he could be having more conversations with republican lawmakers on this issue, but youre right to point out that leader mcconnell has essentially said were not going to appease the president on the issue of just voting to increase those checks to 2,000. At least any time soon. Hes punting that because of how hes tried to tie that potential vote with other issues that by the way, the president of the United States is the one who had asked for them, but now all we know is that the president isnt pleased, because he does want to see this vote of 2,000 and that increase as soon as possible. Again, we dont have much more insight beyond that, because to your point, people who may have been down here on the links with the president or on phone calls in between holes are the only ones giving us readouts. The white house is not providing any of that kind of information. Once the president is back in washington maybe well get a different picture. He hasnt taken questions from reporters in more than three weeks. Getting on air force one or returning to the white house thats an an opportunity for the pool of reporters traveling with him to try to press him on some of the issues. Its possible well actually see him talk and take questions camera for the first time today. For the last week he hasnt addressed the coronavirus pandemic, the mounting deaths and cases, or the economic fallout, or this major issue of whats going to happen with these checks in any public fashion which is a contrast to what president elect biden has been doing the last couple of days. Libby, id like to think the president is headed back to washington because he wants to get this 2,000 passed for every single american that is in need right now but i am thinking its likely more about whats happening next week and the certification of the Election Results and specifically what josh hawley had to say and his plans going forward. Listen to what he said. Youve got 74 million americans who feel disenfranchised, who feel like their vote doesnt matter. This is my opportunity to stand up and say something, to stand up and point out that there were irregularities in this election. There needs to be an investigation. So before you respond, libby, i want to read pretty quickly what ben sass said. Lets be clear what is happening here, a bunch of ambitious politicians think theres a quick way to tap into the president s base without doing any longterm damage. Theyre wrong and adults dont point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate government. Hes talking about hawleys ambitions of running for president in 2024, might be part of the reason why hes going to object to the certification of the results next week. What do you make of all of this . I heard from moderate republican senator murkowskis office and planning on certifying the results like all the democrats and many republicans will have to make the choice to do as well. Her office is saying theyre concerned that objecting to these real results, these electoral results will undermine the confidence that americans have and states like alaska have in the Electoral College process. Were hearing from these two senators theyre not just concerned about what this means for next week, theyre concerned about what this means for american democracy and the systems in place. Its important to note that more than 90 judges at the state and federal level rejected challenges, over 50 attempts by President Trump and his allies to overturn results in states that have failed through the legal process, and so what were seeing josh hawley do is likely doomed to fail or going to fail. Dangerous to make predictions but the democratled house will certify the Election Results and republicans like Lisa Murkowski of course ill certify the Election Results, siding with the democrats in the senate to make sure that the legitimate process is upheld. This is going to put republicans in a difficult position of having to either choose between legitimately respecting the process or being seen as siding with President Trump, so josh hawley is creating this sort of false choice that they have to make. Thank you guys, happy new year. Coming up, the Georgia Senate candidates are making their final push ahead of todays election. What theyre doing on the ground, the big surrogates on their way and what to expect from the last day of early voting. Plus the latest on the investigation into the National Christmas bombing. The bomber believed in conspiracy theories. What investigators are learning. Thats ahead. 2020 thats it calling anyone with grit change this, change that, but dont ever quit 2020s done a new era has begun so keep pushing forward. Because this is twenty twenty won the future is still ours to win. Make a different future start different at godaddy. Com and look, it feels like im just wasting time. Thats why Td Ameritrade designed a firstofitskind, personalized education center. Oh. Their awardwinning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. And it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. So its like my streaming service. Well except now youre binge learning. See how you can become a smarter investor with a personalized education from Td Ameritrade. Visit tdameritrade. Com learn welcome back. Just hours left for early voting in the state of georgia and the Senate Runoffs with more than 2. 8 million ballots cast, well over the 2. 1 million vote record for a runoffcandidates make a pt out the vote, Vice President elect Kamala Harris and president elect joe biden and donald trump escalates his attack on republican Governor Brian Kemp demanding he resign over his refusal to overturn the Election Results. Priscilla thompson is in smyrna, georgia and also joining us is greg bluesteen, political report for the Atlanta Journal constitution. Good to see you on this new years eve. Priscilla, how is it looking out there especially the final day for early voting as i was just mentioning, and how are both parties interpreting the latest early voting numbers we have . Reporter folks arent letting the holiday stop them from getting out on this final day of early voting. The poll watcher here tells me the first voter in line was here at 4 00 a. M. This morning. Folks are waiting up to two