Today joe biden makes a final campaign pitch for the california governor. Voters decide if gavin newsom stays or goes and even before the votes are counted, the top republican insists outcome is rigged. And former president donald trump spends the day, many are clearly worried a 2024 run would bring another defeat. We begin the hour, though, with the covid crisis and the nation s biggest backtoschool challenge. New york city today, right now, 1 million students back in the classroom for fulltime inperson learning. This as experts say there is hope vaccines will be authorized for kids age 5 to 11 by halloween. There is a vaccine mandate for teachers in new york, but the deadline is not by today. Polo sandoval is tracking this very big day for us in new york city. Polo. Reporter: john, good afternoon to you, those students are well into the first days of classes. Some parents did decided to take the city s offer up on sending their children to school for inperson learning in the last sem
Look, i am so disappointed that particularly some of the republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids. So cavalier with the health of their communities. This is we re playing for real here. This isn t a game. Here are the basics. All private companies with more than 100 workers will have to require vaccinations or weekly testing. All federal employees and contractors must get a covid shot as well as educators and federally funded programs and health care workers in settings with medicaid or medicare reimbursements. And finally the president wants entertainment venues to require proof of testing or vaccination. Let s start with a primary care physician and public health specialist. Dr. Matthew, setting aside the politics, would you consider this good public health policy? i would. You know, i m really excited that president biden, i think for the very first time was very stern. He looked at the americans in the eyes and said enough is enough. Frankly, i m tir
That biden will be laying out and here is where the urgency comes from, these graphs. The u. S. Is averaging 1500 deaths a day from coronavirus right now. Efforts to get more people vaccinated have hit a wall with daily vaccinateds declining in the last week. And with coronavirus infecting more children, los angeles would require all eligible students to be vaccinated. Let s get to all of this. First with cnn s john harwood who is live at the white house this hour. John, on the the president s speech, what more are you learning about it? reporter: well, kate, he s going to talk, as you indicated, about three principle objects or areas of focus. But one is by far and away the most important one and that is vaccinations. Trying to ramp up that level of vaccination, we still have about a quarter of the country that has resisted getting a first shot of vaccinations we know are the key of guesting out of the pandemic so you mentioned the federal requirement for federal workers and contracto
He s expected to land at jfk airport at any moment. The president will tour the damage from last week s historic flooding in the northeast that killed at least 52 people in six states. Biden s visit coming just days after he travelled to louisiana to see destruction there from hurricane ida. The president first plans to go to central new jersey today which w which was inundated with torrential rain last week and then he heads to queens where a dozen people died most of them trapped in flooded basements. Meantime new york city officials plan on going doortodoor to make sure that residents apply for federal relief. President biden approving new major disaster declarations for parts of new york and new jersey to help with the recovery. Let s go to john harwood now live at the white house with a preview of the president s visit. John, as we anticipate president biden will land at any moment. He s also expected to deliver remarks later in the day from queens. What are we expect to hear from
We re going to be in real, real trouble. Our kids are going to be in real trouble. In all, 52 people were killed in the northeast. Families drowning and homes, others in cars. And soon the president will speak directly with more officials and residents in the hard hit areas. In new jersey, and in new york, and we re showing you what it looked like just days ago. Today s trip also a critical moment as the president pushes his infrastructure bill. We have team coverage of the president s trip. First athena jones in manville, new jersey where president biden will visit next. What will he see and hear from officials there? reporter: well, the president wants to come and see the damage firsthand. See it for himself. Coming to where we are now, we saw piles and piles of debris from houses lined up. This is the biggest pile we ve seen so far. It s been growing. You can see a couch. There s a door. There are appliances pulled out. The wood from all the walls. The insulation. And that is becaus