variant. pfizer and moderna have previously said their boosters should offer a high level of protection as well. we will have much more on the pandemic in just a few minutes, but we begin with u.s. tensions with russia, tensions that will be the focus of president biden s call with vladimir putin this afternoon. two world leaders will be speaking for the second time this month. the white house says russia requested the call, comes as the u.s. and nato allies grow increasingly alarmed about russia s buildup of troops along its border with ukraine. over the weekend putin said he would consider a slue of options if the west failed to agree to his security demands. he would not rule out military action. i m joined by nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel in london, nbc news white house cress didn t mike memoli in delaware with the president and michael mcfaul who is now an nbc news international affairs analyst. let s start with richard in london and more on today
more are expected as pilots and flight attendants get sidelined by covid. jetblue tells nbc news it is proactively canceling more than 1,200 flights through january, heading off the wave of sickouts, all fueled by another record in new cases. the u.s. is now averaging nearly 300,000 new infections a day. but with home testing kits still in short supply and hours-long waits to get a pcr test, there is a consensus that that 300,000 number is well short of the true number of daily cases. yes, cases are spiking, at a dizzying rate. but, and this is a big but, the caseload is not matching an equally dizzying hospitalization rate. new cases up 60% in the past week. new hospitalizations up 14%. and covid-related deaths are actually down, that s right, down, by 7%. we are not in the same place as we were in march 2020. there are vaccines and boosters along with promising data about that much-maligned j&j shot. there are antivirus. and we have masks, high quality ones. so let us kee
Msnbc. catch savannah and me at 7:00 a.m. eastern on our streaming network, nbc news now. msnbc coverage continues right now with katy tur. good to be with you, i m katy tur. the day before new year s eve, and more signs the country is shutting down, not by mandate but by necessity. shortages at hospitals, police, and fire departments and airports. here in new york city, subway lines frozen. not enough mta workers to staff the system. let us start, though, with our crushed health care system. at the request of fema, the pentagon today announced it is deploying more medical personnel to help assist staff-depleted hospitals in pennsylvania, michigan, and arizona. in green bay, wisconsin, 23 naviy doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are providing relief to hospital workers there. meanwhile at the airports, another miserable day for travelers. more than a thousand flights have been canceled today alone.
Savannah guthrie. and savannah, obviously secretary of state, the white house has made it very clear, they are going to wait for collective action on the issue of libya and a no-fly zone. what s the strategy behind that? well, they are looking at multilateral organizations to lead the way. what they don t want to do is set up a dynamic where it seems like it s the u.s. versus libya. they think that would be counterproductive. so they re comfortable working through the u.n., although when you talk about the u.n. security council it s not at all clear you could get the unanimity that would be necessary to take action. na nato, the arab league want to work through these organizations so that it appears the world united against gadhafi and not the u.s. versus libya. they think that would have demonstrable affects down the road and make things worse in the terms of the dynamic there, not just in libya but the broader middle east. they re aware of and i think
Rights of workers to have collective bargaining but he also has said unions will have to take a haircut to deal with the budget crises. i assume that continues to be his position. let us know if you get new comments. we ll be watching the story as well. big drama oust wisconsin overnight. savannah guthrie, thank you very much. catch savannah and chuck on the daily rundown at 9:00 a.m. eastern time on msnbc. nicholas kristof, thank you so much. harold ford jr., thank you for being with us as well. tomorrow, david axelrod, live on the set. up next, npr under fire. why the company acted so quickly in ousting its ceo. later, our exclusive look at this week s cover of time magazine. we ll be right back. [ male announcer ] nature is unique.