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
connecticut s covid positivity rates keep shattering records. the state reported the highest positivity rate since the start of the pandemic. what are you seeing there and what is connecticut doing to address the numbers. specifically on tuesday we re seeing a positivity rate here and that the governor and the statewide efforts were to get three million at home covid tests to get out here around the state and six million n-95 masks and the hope was to get them out for free starting today. due to supply chain and shipping issues the supplies did not make them here. the governor had to send out a notice to let people know. and they said the planes from the west coast that were supposed to bring the supplies here late last night were not able to take cough. they re hoping they can launch the effort tomorrow in particular because we re already in a holiday surge and they re only expecting things to become more challenging as people ascend events or hang out with family members
Catch me on nbc news now, i m there weekdays at 3:00 p.m. joe fryer picks up our coverage right now. welcome to msnbc reports, i m joe fryer on this day before new year s eve as this pandemic continues to shatter records, nearly two years after the first covid case was detected in america. more than 490,000 new cases, almost half a million, were reported in the u.s. yesterday alone, breaking the previous record set just two days earlier. the same time the seven-day average of new cases continues to climb, closing in on 300,000 new cases a day and dr. fauci predicts the peak is still at least several weeks away, but there is some positive news on the pandemic front. the study out of south africa released today shows that johnson & johnson s booster appears to offer a high level of protection against severe disease from the omicron
I want to take it as far as it will let me go. so i m not sure. i m sure your dad is like hello, this is how we pay for college at the least there. congratulations on taking a hobby and turning it into a successful business. can t wait to see what you have next. these are works of art. congratulations anna and to your dad too sticking with. that that does it for this edition of news nation. i m tamron hall. go to our website and get more information on anna or other stories you ve seen today. catch news nation here weekdays. up next, andrea mitchell reports. i was back in college. i even accept that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. but i won t accept giving it less than my best. so if i can go for something better than warfarin .i will. eliquis. eliquis.
As you know, lebron brought two rings home to miami. he did a great thing. even though he did take south beach. it s a different city. thank you for saying that! that was the thing i think annoyed people is south beach. that s where you party. that s not where you play. i think he s having left. chris bosch has to be happy. he has a huge contract that he probably wouldn t have gotten. resigning wade the team is still together. the heat will be fine. they ll be fine. let s go to a game together and doubting the heat future to rest. we re going have to put the doubters to the side. i ll do that. we ll catch a game. thank you so much. catch the reid report here weekdays. it s a david and goliath story. a high school team took on a