♪♪ thank you for staying with us for "andrea mitchell reports" happy new year to all.

here are the top stories we're covering this hour. israel says its war effort to eliminate hamas is entering a new phase with the new year. but is it going to reduce civilian casualties as the question has been questioning. this as prime minister netanyahu suffers a major political setback from his country's supreme court. i'll teak to ambassador mark regev and the democratic senator. and in tokyo, a five-man crew of air national guard claimed dead but all 400 on board a wide-body passenger plane escaping safely in just minutes after their plane exploded on the runway. and we'll look at the surge of respiratory illnesses over the holiday season. as flu, covid and rsv give families a rough start to 2024. ♪♪ and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in

washington. israel is starting the new year by launching intense attacks against central and southern gaza, even as the idf begins the process, it says, of bringing the first several thousand of its troops home. that includes the 160th brigade who has taken control in gaza city, reportedly at the home of the top commander, although the commander was not at home at the time. there is heavier than usual fighting in khan yunis. that's where they were told they. would be safe. the death toll inside gaza now tops 22,000 people. >> the war has driven 85% of gz gazans from their home. palestinians are moving farther south, cramming camps where many face disease. and the law designed to limit the court's own power, many say

widespread daily protests against that overhaul helped take israel's eye off the ball, ahead of the october 7th attack. prime minister netanyahu's war cabinet is scheduled to meet in about two hours, he'll discuss among other things what he calls a post-hamas gaza. that's where we start with nbc's josh lederman in tel aviv. the reporting about it is now looking at local plans, palestinian plans to govern after the war. not an enhanced palestinian authority, which is what the u.s. has been proposing. and it's not clear whether israel is contemplating a two-state solution, something that prime minister netanyahu has said he's against. and something that president biden has said is a bottom line. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this has really been the big question for weeks as israel has talked about eliminating hamas, is what actually comes after it and who would govern the gaza

strip. israel has made it clear, they see no role for hamas and would not accept any role for the olympian governing hamas. and at this cabinet meeting today, a plan will be presented where israel will maintain a security control indefinitely which netanyahu has been saying for some time, they want to have a security perimeter in gaza. but they also say, as part of this plan, responsibility for local administration, for dealing with civilian needs and doling out humanitarian aid would be given to local clans. now, this is already drawing comparisons to a plan that israel pursued in the early 1980s called the village leagues. which was an effort to decentralize power away from at the time, the plo, toward local groups that israel hoped would be more pro-israel. that plan did not work because the palestinians did not consider those groups legitimate, in many instances they considered them palestinian collaborators. this is what israel is

considering at this point for what the gaza would look like if it's successful in defeating hamas. >> and, josh, just quickly, when they talk about a security perimeter. bottom line for the u.s. is that land cannot be taken from gaza, from the palestinians. has israel conceded that? or are they still insisting that the security perimeter come from gaza land? >> reporter: israel hasn't really said publicly where that land would come from. whether it would be basically a perimeter inside what is now the gaza strip, from land that is palestinian, which is something that the u.s. has already said is unacceptable. there will be no reduction in palestinian land. or if israel would consider taking its own land from the area around gaza strip a perimeter. that say key question for the israelis, as they consider this plan in the cabinet, ahead of this expected visit of secretary of state antony blinken to israel in the coming days. >> thank you, josh lederman for

your reporting. joining me ambassador mark regev, senior adviser to prime minister netanyahu. good to see you. >> good to be with you, andrea. >> good to be with you and at a critical time, you've got a cabinet meeting tonight, a lot on the plate, on the table there. this is all predicated on chiefing your goal of eliminating hamas, and that's something that most militaries and other leaders around the world including u.s., don't think is really entire possible. >> andrea, it's not going to be easy, but it's doable. i mean, the united states in iraq and syria was successful in destroying the territory your enclaves that i.s.i.s. controlled. you recall that, you covered that story. and just as those territory enclaves were removed, we believe we can remove the territory enclave which hamas controls in the gaza strip.

and we're also seeing good signs in the north where operations started the earliest. we're seeing the hamas machine beginning to crack. we're seeing more and more hamas terrorists come out and surrender. we're destroying the tunnels there. we've taken out senior commanders there. in the south, because we started later that could take longer. we have to be patient. but this is a war that we will win. >> of course, the difference bass there were no tunnels in mosul or fallujah, and mosul took nine months. knack, the prime minister is projecting a very long war. months and months of fighting. you have are having to withdraw the troops, you need economically to get some of these people back to their jobs, domestic jobs. >> so you're right in your question, hamas has been running the gaza strip for 16 years, that's much longer than i.s.i.s.

they've had a chance to build in the subterranean work, the tunnels, the bunkers and the underground forces, they've had a chance to do this. we will take to this job. take the military mission, we will remove the power from gaza, and the truth is we don't have a choice. because we israelis, we simply refuse to live next to this terror enclave, in constant fear of murdering our people and our children. no people should live that way, and israelis do refuse to do so. >> we do have breaking news, i want to ask you about this strike in downtown beirut, according to our producer quoting the hamas political leader, a hamas spokesman saleh al luery, a senior official has been in a lebanon strike.

this is according to the hamas political leader. can you confirm that? >> i've seen the reports. israel has not taken responsibility for this attack. but whoever did it, it must be clear, this was not an attack on the lebanese state. it was not an attack even on hezbollah, the terrorist organization. whoever did this, did a surgical strike against the hamas leadership. >> well, the clearly, it wasn't hezbollah, or another group rooted in beirut. that would take out a hamas leader also backed by iran. who, besides israel, could have done this? >> so, we can speculate if you like, but let's be clear, israel has not taken responsibility. and i think it should be clear, israel has, in the past, of course dealt with terrorists when they're in foreign countries. and the truth is i think you'll find my prime minister, my defense minister, my chief of

staff, have all said in the past that people, terrorist commanders involved in killing israeli civilians. anyone involved in the october 7th massacre is a legitimate target. anyone who kills israelis can expect the israeli state and israeli armed forces to reach them. but that's a general statement of policy. it's got nothing to do with this current situation, this specific situation in beirut, which i have no comment on. >> understood. but don't you expect that a strike in downtown beirut might lead to a hezbollah response and open that northern front which, of course, israel and the united states have been very concerned about a second opening to the north? >> so, i think it's obvious, obviously, in lebanon, there are many physical targets, but whoever did this strike and was very surgical and went for a hamas target, because israel is

at war. whoever did this, has a gripe with hamas. once again, whoever did this, it's not an attack on the lebanese state. it's not an attack on the hezbollah terrorist organization. whoever did this is an attack on hamas, it's very clear. >> let me ask you about the cabinet meeting tonight and this plan for the local palestinian clans to take over. it didn't work as josh lederman was pointing out, back in the '80s. what makes you think it can work now? >> it's clear it's a situation when hamas is defeated, when the military machine has been destroyed and they no longer rule the gaza strip, that you want to see something better. and that something better will be based on true principles. gazaemilitarizedemilitarized.

we don't want to see the ability to storm across our borders and kill our people and shoot rockets into israel. you in the united states, you welcomed in new year's eve, i presume, with fireworks at the strike of midnight. at the beginning of 2024, we had rocket barrages. some 30 rockets were fired into central and southern israel. it wasn't necessarily a good way to start the year so, we refuse to live that way any longer. so gaza will be demilitarized. and the other principle is we want to see gaza be radicalized. this hatred for israel, teaching children that they should kill jews and become a martyr for this extremist cause of hamas. to teach people to value death, almost a death cause, that you should kill, this thing part of

the credo ruling as i said before, for 16 years, so, we have to see gaza be deradicalized. we've seen differences in the past, following the second world war, other examples of societies where you had a radical regime, and you destroyed that radical regime, and then you have to deradicalize. so we want to see that the schools in gaza don't teach murder and terror and hatred. we want to see the mosques in gaza not preaching a message to rise up and kill the jews. we want to see not promoting hate thread and military towards jewish people and israelis. in other words, we want to see a change in gaza that is deeper. not just a change at the top, but we want to see a long-term change in what people in gaza are seeing, learning -- >> can you accomplish this with fewer civilian casualties?

because the death toll has been horrendous, casualties on both sides, you just suffered more idf casualties as well. but the thousands, with the number from the palestinian health short, it's already 22,000, they say. it's still in the thousands. and also i want to ask you about the supreme court decision, whether you believe that the knesset can pass a law to try to reverse that? >> two very different definitions. on the first issue, actually, i think we're already seeing signs that hamas has increasingly discredited in gaza. because use gaza has an affinity -- >> but what about the casualties and the cost of this war? >> despite the historic animosity that many gazans feel towards israel, they see the destruction around them. they had to, as you reported, they had to leave their homes to get out of harm's way to get

away from fighting. they've seen the destruction. they understand better than most who started this war, who brought this upon them. who impacted -- when there was a cease-fire that president biden helped get some hostages released, they know who ended the cease-fire in order because they refused to release hostages. >> i've got to tell you that, i mean, we're going to have to move on to the other issues. but all of our reporting from our teams there are that the people there are not -- of course, hamas is responsible for the continued fighting. but they are blaming israel, in large measure, because of the large munitions are coming in. >> i understand that. >> and there are safe zones and the safe zones are attacked. i mean, there's terrible suffering on both sides. >> i understand -- i'm seeing increasingly. i'm telling you, i've seen

information that is unequivocal. we've seen signs as hamas is ruling the gaza strip is now being challenged by israel. that there are cracks in their control over society. we're seeing more expressions of pent-up anger, not of israel, but lebanon itself. that hamas has brought the disaster of people of gaza. and with hamas discredited when this is over, that's a good field for maybe more moderate voices to grow. similar things happened at the end of the second world war. where does radicalism and extremism lead, that's a good basis for more pragmatic leadership to emerge. let's move on to the supreme court decision, it is a setback of the prime minister, but he tried to reverse that new act in the knesset and parliament. >> i think the prime minister

has been very clear. he spoke on saturday night, in israel. and before this decision, the decision was late, and it was not unexpected. he said this is a time of national unity. the whole issue of judicial reform is obviously a divisive issue in the israeli body politic, on both sides of the debate. and he said, no, today, we're focusing on winning this war in gaza. we have to see hamas dismantled. everything else must be seen as peripheral. and those issues are put aside. when the war is over, we will get back to politics at usual. but at the moment, that would be a serious mistake. we have to focus all of our natural resources, all of or national will on defeating hamas. >> good to see you in person, mark regrev, we continue our discussion. >> thank you very much. a dramatic escape, after

hundreds of passengers on a japan flight survived as their plane caught fire on the tarmac. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." back in 60 seconds. rea mitchell reports. back in 60 seconds

♪♪ it was a horrific collision at a major airport in tokyo after two airplanes collided. one of them bursting into flames. a shocking video shows the japanese wide-body plane colliding. all 300 passengers and the crew managed to escape safely in just two minutes. it's extraordinary. although five crew members from the second plane perished. the pilot did survive. this cups one day after japan was hit by a powerful 7.5 earthquake that killed at least 65 people. we're getting a look at that

since 2011 when they will a previous horrific earthquake. meagen, it's how much can this country bear, a plane crash, just coming after the collision and coast guard plane apparently was trying to bring supplies to some of the earthquake victims. >> you're absolutely right. this, on only the second day of the new year. what we know, it happened on the runway of tokyo's haneda airport which is the busiest in the country. it happened on the landing. passengers say that it was during the landing that the plane somehow collided with the coast guard aircraft on the same runway. the japanese saying their understanding was that their plane had been given permission to land. but the airline and aviation officials are conducting their own investigation to try to figure out how this happened.

meanwhile, the associated press is quoting a passenger who gives insight into what was going on, on board. this guy said the cabin filled with smoke. as the doors opened, passengers scrambled to get out. on the tarmac, they basically ran for their lives, andrea. >> let's talk about the earthquake. what's the latest on the search for survivors, do you know the extent of damage? >> so the death toll has risen to 55. the first responders got people that they know are trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed homes and buildings. we know that dozens of people have been injured. and this remains a serious situation, where officials are saying, since that initial quake on the western part of japan, they have seen nearly 170 aftershocks. and more are expected in the coming week. so this is still a very dangerous situation. but meanwhile, we're also getting our first look at destruction. as the sun came out in japan, we're seeing homes and

buildings, flattened, private homes and streets buckled. it's a horrific situation that they're just now starting to move through. >> meagan fitzgerald, thank you. the balances act, 2024 presenting former president donald trump with several daunting legal challenges with less than two weeks to go to the political contest in iowa. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. msnbc. ask about nurtec odt. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, i've bee telling everyone. baby: liberty. oh! baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪ >> woman: what's my safelite story? jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i'm a photographer. and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their experts replaced my windshield

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it's got to be the iowa caucus us. in less than two weeks from now, donald trump is still dominating the field in early primary states as they tries to delay his numerous civil and criminal court cases before the 2024 election, primary caucus dates. as early as this week, mr. trump is expected to appeal a decision by colorado who just qualified the president for running for president under the 14th amendment, given his role on january 6. although those two decisions, the states decided those two decisions on different grounds, they feel the same place, he is not qualified under the constitution to run. next week, mr. trump's case will be heard in the u.s. court of appeals. joining us former manhattan d.a. kathryn christian and paul totalen.

help us understand that mr. trump should not be on the ballots. and 50 separate decisions in 50 states. >> that's exactly right, andrea, and these legal theories arise out of the interpretation of the 14th amendment, an amendment that grew out of the civil war which decided then and pursuant to this amendment, if involved in insurrection, you ought not to be allowed, you're barred from holding public office. this is a legal theory, some conservative legal scholars hold. you're exactly right, there is now a difference in opinion between different states. the u.s. supreme court is going to have to weigh in, because there are equal arguments, let's say, arguments that could be balanced on both sides, good faith arguments. it may very well be that the u.s. supreme court will follow along the lines of their political affiliations as they make this decision, as to

whether or not former president trump can be on the upcoming ballot for president. >> and catherine, talk to us about the immunity claim that president trump is heading into court next week, talking about impeachment and double jeopardy, that's been discussed. the issue of presidential immunity has never really been decided. >> it hasn't been decides, because, quite frankly, no former president has been indicted for crimes as this former president has. he is argues, his lawyers are arguing, that as a former president he's absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for acts that he committed while president. he's also arguing, as you said, because he was acquitted by the senate it's also a double jeopardy. of course, the senate and house, those are not courts of law. those are court proceedings but the special counsel said that's hog wash. if the supreme court --

actually, the d.c. court of appeals were to hold that a former president was responsible for criminal prosecution for "x," that a former president, while president, he could commit bribery, assault, and you could think of a host of crimes that a president would be allowed to commit just because of the fact that he's president. and that, clearly, would put him, and all presidents, above the law. and that's clearly not what was intended by the constitution, or history, or any other precedent. so, we're going to find out, i think this will ultimately -- he will lose, trump in the court of appeals and ultimately be taken by the supreme court. maybe. >> and, paul, the supreme court likely to try to find some kind of technical off-ramp rather than getting into a bush v. gore situation in the middle of a political hang? >> that could be, andrea. catherine is right, this feels

like an argument in which its reach has exceeded its grasp. but the real victory for former president trump is that he loses, the real victory for president trump is delay. he wants to delay this decision. he wants to hold off the trial and wait in after the election, in the hope that he can somehow seek a pardon or have a new department of justice in place. that's what president trump's lawyers are truly hoping to win. because i think the legal arguments are clearly in favor of jack smith and the prosecutors. >> catherine christian, paul charlton, thanks to both of you. and new year, new big challenges. next, senator chris van hollen joining us and doubling down on 2024. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." thisis msnbc. is msnbc

ukraine's two largest cities were bombarded by russian missiles today, after president putin began the new year vowing to intensify attacks. at least five people were killed in kyiv and kharkiv. and over 110 others injured according to president zelenskyy's office. and ukraine has depleted the forces as kyiv has still not received military it's seeking from congress. joining us is chris van hollen

who serves on the appropriations committee. senator van hohollen, happy new year to you. is there any progress on this new situation on coming up with a ukraine deal? >> well, andrea, this stresses the urgency of getting the ukraine people the assistance and military equipment that he need to defend themselves against putin's aggression. one of the things president zelenskyy stressed before the senate was the need for more air defenses. and we see exactly why that's necessary now. the talks have been ongoing, with respect to border security, something president biden has pushed for for a long time, as well as immigration reform issues. but linking these two issues, providing ukrainians the help they need against putin and the border security issues, i fear, is going to mean that we don't get the ukrainians the equipment

they need, when they need it. we need to deal with both the issues, but tying them together in this way i think has been harmful. we are working to try to resolve it. >> and what about resolving the government shutdown? there are two deadlines come ago mid-january and beginning of february. >> right, this is going to be a hell of a start to the new year, in the united states congress. republicans in the house insisted on kicking the can down the road to early january, with the rick of this two-tiered government shutdown, four agencies starting january 19th, just 17 days from now. and then another, the rest of the government, in early february. and even though president biden struck an agreement with the previous speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy, about how he would deal with the overall budget levels, the new speaker has refused to abide by those numbers in that agreement.

so, you know, it's hard to know who to associate with among house republicans these days because you have an agreement one day. and it's gone the next. >> and, of course, the other more -- which is getting worse and worse, is in israel and gaza, the war with hamas. first of all, the cabinet is meeting today, tonight, rather, in israel. and they're talking about a post-war, after they've achieved the goal of eliminating hamas. i was talking to mark regev earlier and he said they've accomplished a lot in that regard. they're denying it was them. it was a targeted assassination, surgical, they say, in beirut, taking out these two leaders including the deputy hamas leader of the ring which in this case has been confirmed by hamas as well. but is it really even possible

for hamas to be totally eliminated, no matter how long this war takes? >> well, andrea, i think all of us support the objective of ending hamas as a military threat. and making sure that they can never govern gaza again. and i think that is an achievable goal. as the know, the biden administration has been trying to get the netanyahu government to take a more targeted approach, like this -- you know, like this strike against hamas leadership in lebanon. but you still see unacceptably high numbers of civilian casualties. with the focus now in southern gaza, and a humanitarian crisis that's getting worse, not better, because it's so difficult to distribute humanitarian assistance in gaza, given the ongoing war. so, it really is urgent that we

take a humanitarian pause to allow humanitarian aid to be distributed, food, water, medicine. health experts are warning of the outbreak of disease that could kill thousands and thousands or more. of more people. and then you mentioned the post-war, the day after efforts. and president biden has tried to create some light at the end of the tunnel by talking about a two-state solution. unfortunately, prime minister netanyahu has slammed the door shut on that idea. so, we have a lot to do with our israeli partners, in order to address both the media crisis, but also create some hope for the future. >> senator chris van hollen, thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you. and the critical conflicts

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fired on the u. from yemen, on the u.s. navy in the red sea on sunday. the u.s. returned fire with three houthi boats killing ten militants. and now iran has moved a warship into close proximity to u.s. assets. just this hour, hamas confirmed that a senior hamas official was killed in a blast in beirut, in lebanon, blaming his death on an israeli air strike. top israeli adviser ambassador mark regev told me a few minutes ago they do not claim responsibility. >> in lebanon, there are many principal targets. whoever did this strike was very surgical and went for a hamas target. because israel is at war. whoever did this has a gripe with hamas. it's, once again, whoever did this, it's not an attack on the lebanese state. it's not an attack on the hezbollah terrorist organization. whoever did this, it's an attack on hamas, that's very clear.

>> whoever did this is an attack on hamas. joining us now, michael crowley, james twitty and colin clark. deputy commander of the u.s. command and colin clark is director of research from the stefan group. the israeli-based bergman has written an entire book on the israeli successful records, started assassinations. the kills of the hamas official, who else besides israel would have done this? >> well, israel, there's no question about it, you can see regev's remarks in trying to skirt the line. >> yeah. >> this is a big strike. it sends a signal not only to hamas, but iran, with the

leadership in iran. and look, andrea, let's be clear, this conflict has been a regional conflict from day one. but we're now seeing spillover violence escalating into syria, into lebanon, and elsewhere. and there's real concerns that this could drag in other major actors in the region and kind of amplify some of the violence we've already been seeing. >> there's some comments privately from the military, the military in the u.s., current and former, that the u.s. has to be more aggressive but deterrence is not working and it's getting awfully close and the u.s. has to do something to work at it? >> well, as you know, our stance has been in deterrence and self-protection or port protection for our troops. as you can see it's not working, incidents that occurd in syria, iraq, in the red sea over the weekend, it's not working,

and we m have to move to a more instant strike method, within side yemen. if we continue to get the attacks on u.s. forces. and if our commercial shipping lanes continue to be threatened. and i know the pentagon and others are looking at this. right now, we'll remain in the stance that we're in. but as this ratchets up, i think we'll see a more proactive role by u.s. forces and our coalition that is now in the mediterranean and the red sea that are protecting those shipping lanes. >> and, michael crowley," your yesterday, there have been other reports as well. we have done some reporting on this about the growing tensions, clearly apparent with what general austin had to say at the reagan library, with what the president had to say at a

fund-raiser, with what secretary blinken has been saying about the level of civilian casualties inside gaza and the way israel has been targeting and moving people around, displacing them, telling them to go to a safe zone and the safe zone gets hit. you to see any sign that the netanyahu war cabinet is heeding that advice and is going to try to minimize the civilian casualties? >> not much sign, andrea, unfortunately. secretary of state antony blinken, before the holidays, said that he continued to see a gap between what the u.s. was looking for and what was happening on the ground, also a gap between what he called -- he was i guess charitable in saying that the israelis may have certain intentions to limit casualties, but that what matters is the results. in other words, good intentions aren't enough if there are still very high casualties. the bottom line is u.s.

officials still believe the death toll is too high. it at least appears disproportionate to the military gains. israeli officials have been saying that they expect secretary blinken back in israel early this month. so we'll see more of those difficult conversations, i'm sure, and among other things i think he'll be trying to assess, you know, the significance of this at least partial withdraw of israeli troops from gaza. does not look like that's the beginning of the end, but maybe they are shifting the way they're going to conduct the operations and i think the hope among u.s. officials is that the offensive is becoming more targeted, less, you know, massive bombardment of apartment blocks and maybe something more akin to what we think of as special operations raids on hamas targets. it is unclear what is happening on the ground in there right now. >> also a big gap between what the u.s. wants, which is a two-state solution, which is what has been the u.s. policy

since oslo, and what israel is saying, which is not a two-state solution and is a very different after the war outlook potentially for gaza. >> yeah. there has been a tension from the very start of this conflict between israel's political strategy to the extent that it has one, and its military approach. so, not only are there conversations between the u.s. and israelis, but within israel itself, the domestic political situation is very much unresolved. there is no clear way ahead. and i think we're seeing those tensions play out on a regular basis on the battlefield and every day in the media landscape. michael crowley, steph twitty, colin clark, we begin the new year the way we ended the old year. thank you. and a health alert, a spike in respiratory illnesses across the country putting added strain on millions of families as the new year begins.

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the holiday season over, the cdc says dozens of states reporting increasing numbers of respiratory illnesses. cases of the flu, rsv, covid, the common cold, all on the rise. sending thousands of people to hospitals across the country. and with vaccination numbers waning, experts say the situation could get even worse. nbc news correspondent blayne alexander joins us from atlanta. what are the cdc numbers showing and what are doctors telling you? >> reporter: so, andrea, you started talking about the vaccination numbers. i want to begin there. right now they're low. officials warn they were low. the cdc put out a rare message to doctors in december, basically saying urge your at risk patients or high risk patients to get the shot. so when you look at the covid boost, 18% of adults have had that shot. the flu shot is less than 50%, it is down from last year. so, when you combine that with the fact that we typically see a rise in respiratory illnesses

around this time, people are traveling for the holidays, they just had big gatherings, but up until now, it really was rsv and the flu. the common cold. this is the first flu and cold season that we're officially past the pandemic, so cold has folded into the list. so all of that combined means this is just an especially high season. i spoke with dr. vin gupta, he told me even though we're seeing a lot of cases, we have not yet reached the peak. take a look. >> we do expect cases are going to rise, hospitalizations are going to rise well into the end of january, early february. >> reporter: so that's something we're already expecting. a couple of tips for adults who may experience symptoms, typically around this time, runny nose or cough, we think, okay, it will pass and we'll just wear it out. but, officials say that what you should do is actually go get tested. find out if you're dealing with the flu or covid or rsv and get

treated for it. they say oftentimes what happens, these things get more serious when they don't necessarily need to because there is treatment available. and the other thing that we want to do is talk to parents. we talk about rsv, young children, infants, especially dangerous. if you notice your child is wheezing, you hear the child audibly wheezing, that's something you need to make sure you get immediate attention for. >> people aren't wearing masks, people have gotten out of those habits and kids are going back to school. it could potentially get worse. blay alexander, good to see you. happy new year to you. and thanks to blayne and that does it for this edition, the first edition of "andrea mitchell reports" in the new year. remember to follow the show on social media at mitchell reports and rewatch the best parts of our show now anytime on youtube, go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" is next with alex witt starting right now. a very