hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you're watching cnn noewsroom, and i'm michael homes. coming up here on the program, the u.s. recording record cases leading up to the election as donald trump insists the country

has turned that corner. he and joe biden both campaigning in florida on the same day in the critical swing state that is almost a must win for the president. and then a little later. >> single voter in wisconsin has a bigger say about the future of humanity than almost anyone who has ever lived. >> hard to overstate the importance of this vote. we'll take you to a battleground wisconsin organizing covid testing and early voting in an election unlike any other. the united states approaching election day 2020 under the shadow of an escalating health crisis, with only four days to go before november the 3rd, the u.s. on thursday reporting a record number of new covid infections,

more than 88,000 according to johns hopkins, a total 9 million cases. on the same day, the country hit that record, president donald trump appeared before a packed and largely maskless crowd in florida. democrat joe biden was also making his case to florida voters accusing mr. trump of surrendering to the virus. their campaign events like their messages, starkly different. biden at a mask in drive-in rally, versus maskless trump amid a dense crowd. but the choice is already made for a third of registered voters, just over 81 million ballots have been cast. now, only 250 people will be allowed to a trump rally in minnesota on friday, not because of pandemic safety. according to the campaign, their statement blames minnesota's quote free speech stifling

dictates. there were no such restrictions in florida, of course. our ryan nobles is there with the latest from the campaign trail. >> reporter: in florida, president trump facing a battle ground on two fronts. >> i'm thrilled to be here in my, our, home state florida. >> reporter: florida is a pivotal swing state where polls show a neck in neck race and 29 electoral votes up for grabs. >> when we win, florida wins and network wins, it's very simple. >> reporter: and a state where coronavirus cases are surging, with both federal and state government leaders giving mixed messages on how to handle the virus. >> as we try to make sure that we come into contact with other people, making sure that we socially distance as much as possible, wearing those masks when we can, we strongly encourage that. >> reporter: white house chief of staff mark meadows continuing to encourage americans to wear

masks and social distance, but at the same time, the trump team continues to ignore the threat posed by the massive rallies with no attempts to social distance, and few people wearing masks. sending press secretary kayleigh mcenany out. >> you can vote on joe biden where you will be locked down, your schools will be closed, your churches will be closed, you won't have social gatherings, it will be a lock down versus president trump where we are safely reopening this country. >> meanwhile, the president himself seemingly ignoring the rising case count is down playing the threat and blaming the media and democrats for hyping the reality of 200,000 americans who have died. >> it would have been 2 million lives. it's incredible the job we have done and the american people have done. >> reporter: it is florida where top covid adviser dr. scott atlas was pushing governor ron desantis to slow down testing as

cas cas cases surged here. governor san tis lifted restrictions related to coronavirus, as president trump continues to promise a new vaccine will be ready soon. >> the safe vaccine is coming quickly, you're going to have it momentarily that eradicates the virus. >> reporter: the president's optimism is not shared by many experts, including dr. anthony fauci who has a dim view of the country's effort to contain the virus. >> where are we tony? >> we're not in a good place. >> reporter: despite the fact the president touted his response to the coronavirus and said the country is rounding the corner, the stark reality of the virus and its spread through florida could be a few feet away from where the president is standing on the same campus home to the tampa bay buccaneers is a drive-in testing. the state recorded 4,000 new

cases of the coronavirus. ryan nobles, cnn, tampa, florida. joe biden is taking his socially distanced campaign through three states on friday after he made his closing arguments in florida where he hopes to cut off mr. trump's path to 270 electoral college votes. jessica dean is following the vice president. >> former vice president joe biden is traveling here to the critical battle ground state for two events one in broward county and the other in tampa where we heard him give his closing arguments, slamming president trump's handling it and making the case that americans would be better off if joe biden were in office, saying he has a plan and he's ready to act on it. he also talked on health care, being on the ballot, and how important it is to protect the affordable care act and preexisting conditions coverage for millions of americans.

now, joe biden doesn't have to win florida to get to that critical 270 electoral votes, but if he did, it would be an incredible show of strength for the biden campaign, and could put this contest to an early end on election night. here's the former vice president. >> this election is the most important you have voted in, whether it's your first of tenth. ladies and gentlemen, the heart and soul of this country is at stake right here in florida. it's up to you, you hold the key. if florida goes blue. it's over. it's over. >> reporter: on friday, we'll see biden going to more states as we have seen him travel in recent memory. we'll be hitting iowa, wisconsin, and minnesota, all on friday as the election grows closer. back to you. >> jessica day, whoever wins florida gets 29 of those precious electoral votes. only california and texas have

more than florida. phil mattingly explains why winning florida is so important for mr. trump's reelection bid. >> for president trump, there's no question about it, he can win without florida but it would be extremely, extremely difficult. let's just look at this map as it stands right now. the gold states are toss ups. as it stands, joe biden is already above 270 electoral votes in the current race ratings. say you gave joe biden the state of florida, that puts him at 219. he could win georgia, north carolina, he could win ohio, he could win iowa, he could win the second district in maine up here, for that one electoral vote and start digging into democrat territory. in fact, he could win the state of pennsylvania, and look at this, joe biden is still above 270 electoral votes. are there pathways or is there a pathway that president trump can win 270 electoral votes without

florida. yes. is it likely? both campaigns acknowledge if they're being candid, the answer is no. >> teaches government at the university of essex in england. appreciate your time. we were just saying the importance of florida and that state has the added factor of the governor ron desantis being an ardent trump supporter, curbing testing criteria, and yet the case is still rising. given that, i'm curious what you think about the seniors who voted for trump, might they be anger angered enough that their pandemic response night switch? >> that's what we're seeing, it was the senior vote that helped trump in 2016 to win over florida, and he actually didn't do as well with hispanic voters. things have really turned around now. seniors are souring on his

covid-19 management and his policies that they don't believe he's going to be able to get the u.s. out of this crisis. they're really concerned with the way that he is so dismissive with the virus. in contrast, you're seeing hispanic voters have switched and are more supportive of him in the state of florida at least. this is one of the states that's going to be incredibly close, probably down to 1%. we know last time it was down to about 100,000 voters, and we're really not going to know until the very end but if florida goes to biden, it really is over for trump. >> yeah, it's hard to look at the political map and see otherwise. there are key states, though, florida, we've mentioned. pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, which you could call the usual suspects. some surprising ones perhaps in play. i'm talking about here in georgia, arizona, even incredibly perhaps texas.

wa what's your read on the polling, they got burned in 2016 by polls. >> eng ti think the democrats a worried about being overconfident because of what you mentioned in 2016, but there are a lot of states at play here. they're hoping that they're going to take michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. they're ahead in the polls there. of course they need to take also nevada. they could, as you mentioned, take arizona. they could take iowa, georgia, even texas is really close, which is really a big surprise for the democrats, but remember in the 2018 election, beto o'rourke came close in his run against ted cruz. it could be a blow out if everything goes biden's way. when we're talking about trump, everything literally has to go his way. that's what happened in 2016. everything went for him. and that's what's going to happen this time. not only is he behind in the polls but he's behind by bigger

margins in 2016. we know that a lot of undecided voters at the last minute, possibly because comey announced that he was investigating hillary clinton's e-mails, they decided to vote for trump in the end. we know over 50 million people have already voted. >> that's exactly right. by this point in the campaign in 2016, hillary clinton's support was plummeting. biden's is not. the other thing that's changed is biden is winning college educated whites. he's doing way better than hillary clinton than noncollege educated white, and massive numbers of suburban women who trump had last time. i think biden is 61 to 37% with women which is incredible. more younger voters, racial demographics have changed. how do you think all of those factors have played. it's not 2016, is what i'm saying. >> i think they're all important, but particularly women. this is a group trump is doing

terribly with. if we compare it to 2016, clinton only won 53-54% t which was surprising to some. many thought she would get more support from women. we're seeing over the last four years, women have really soured on trump's policies, whether it be just his misogynistic rhetoric, immigration policies or just the way he comports himself. he doesn't have much support from women. in fact, he was even begging women, particularly suburban women, why don't you like me. this is the group that biden has really gained a lot of support from, and it might be the group that really puts trump out of office. >> natasha speak to go ing to m earlier. voter suppression remains a concern as ballots are being cast. as americans make their voices heard, the courts are making their presence felt. a federal appeals court in minnesota vastly shortening the

deadline for voters to file their mailed-in election ball lots. und -- ballots. they must get to state officials by 3 in the afternoon at drop box locations. late mail ballots will be segregated. the court could decide whether to count them or throw them out. amy klobuchar told chris cuomo what voters should do. >> the 8th circuit said nope, even though you have been told this for months, even though your ballots say that they can be postmarked by election day, they actually have to be received by election day, so here's our problem, chris, there's over 500,000 ballots in people's hands. the ones that have been mailed in by now, are probably just fine. right? >> depending on when they were mailed in and how the service is. >> okay.

service a little better than average in minnesota, but let's just look at what i really can do something about right now and that is to ask the people of minnesota who's got those over 500,000 ballots, and that's over 500,000 people no matter where they are right now that they not mail them in in the morning. they're going to think they can. they're going to think they can do it right up to election day. under this court ruling, they can't. what they should do is take their ballot to a drop off box or go vote themselves. >> now, until this ruling, voters had up to a week after polling date to file their ballots. minnesota's secretary of state says he doesn't know if the ruling can be appealed. we're going to take a quick break. new cases of coronavirus skyrocketing across the u.s. just ahead, a chilling warning from health experts about where the virus could be headed in the months to come. we'll be right back. want to brain better? unlike ordinary memory supplements- neuriva has clinically

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robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. welcome back. health experts are warning americans to take more coronavirus precautions in the coming months, otherwise the daily death toll could triple by

mid-ja mid-january. a covid-19 model is predicted 400,000 deaths. could be possible by the beginning of february. cnn's brian todd with more. >> top health officials are issues ominous warnings to americans. the country is getting sicker, and a month from now, the top voice on the pandemic told cnbc america will be in an even darker place. >> if they continue on the course they're on, there's going to be a whole lot of pain in this country with regard to additional cases and hospitalizations and deaths. we are on a very difficult trajectory. >> reporter: former fda commissioner scott gottlieb says america is in the hardest part of the pandemic right now that the u.s. will probably climb past 100,000 infections per day within the next couple of weeks, and he's warning americans to avoid potentially dangerous family gatherings at thanksgiving.

>> i would tell people to be prudent at thanksgiving. if you want to come together, take precautions, be mindful of bringing older people in contact with younger people who might be asymptomatic spreaders. you need to be careful if you're going to come together. we're not going to be this year. >> reporter: wisconsin reporting a 7-day average positivity rate that's astronomical. of all the people tested for coronavirus on a given day in wisconsin, nearly 30% were positive. 86% of hospital beds in wisconsin are taken. >> icu capacities are getting near capacity in the state of wisconsin. the situation is dire. so it's a very serious situation in wisconsin right now. >> one of 13 states reporting record high hospitalizations and it's in one of the regions dr. anthony fauci is most worried about when he talks about the hospital crisis in america brought on by this virus. >> there are some places in the heartland and the northwest that never had the kind of hospital and intensive care facility is flexibility that some of the

larger hospitals in larger cities like new york, chicago, new orleans, philadelphia, and others. >> reporter: and one expert says with hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients there will be a deadly cascading effect. >> if it's overwhelmed because of a single disease, there are also many other diseases which we need immediate care like heart attacks, strokes, so we're going to have an increase in deaths in this country due to other causes. >> this disease keeps getting more devastating. new cases are averaging 74,000 per day. ohio just recorded its highest daily case count with more than 3,500 positives in one day. >> reporter: this virus is raging throughout the state of ohio. there's no place to hide. and dr. anthony fauci said again he thinks it's time for a national mandate for all americans to wear a mask in public. dr. fauci had previously been reluctant to call for that, and in recently days he said he didn't think that kind of

mandate could ever happen. he also know says this is quote an untenable situation. brian todd, cnn, washington. >>. >> i want to bring in dr. peter drawback, expert in infectious disease. these numbers are ticking up dangerously across the continent, what do you attribute it to. melissa was suggesting it's cold? >> wrong tape. a new medical study is highlighting the risk of covid-19 infection in grocery store workers. the paper in occupational and environmental medicine found that a fifth of workers in a boston store tested positive for coronavirus. that rate was around 20 times higher than the surrounding general public. staff who interacted with customers were five times as likely to test positive than behind the scenes colleagues.

76% of those who tested positive had no symptoms. the study authors say that of course makes them a significant transmission risk. now, for decades, texas has been reliably republican in u.s. elections. just ahead, we'll find out why democrats see a chance to capture the elusive state. we'll be right back. businesses today are looking to tomorrow. adapting. innovating.

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the highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. more than 88,000. both presidential donald trump and democratic rival joe biden were in the crucial state of florida on thursday. but their events, like their messages, very different. masks and social distancing mark biden's event. those at donald trump's rally, ignoring the scientific guidance. with tens of millions of voters, any u.s. election is a logistical challenge, of course, if not a nightmare. this time, even more so, with so many people mailing in their ballots. cnn's pamela brown reports. >> reporter: more than a third of america's registered voters have already cast their ballots. >> it's more a sense of a security when we vote in person. >> reporter: 28 states have received more than 50% of total ballots cast in 2016, in florida where more than 7 million people

voted, the democrats big early turnout lead has narrowed to just over 200,000. the texas turnout is already massive. with more than 8 million votes cast so far. early voting there is on track to eclipse its entire 2016 vote total. >> we want to make it as easy as can be to make it accessible so this location is open 24 hours. >> reporter: there are also new legal battles over whether late arriving mail-in votes will be counted. in two key states, the u.s. supreme court has weighed in. north carolina can count ballots up to nine days after the election if they are clearly postmarked by november 3rd. and pennsylvania, the decision is trickier, allowing ball loot received by november 6th to be counted now but the court made clear they could be disputed later. pennsylvania officials announcing they will segregate

votes. setting up a potential nightmare legal battle if light ballots are enough to swing the election. >> i know there's confusion about court decision, make a plan today to vote. right now, do not wait. >> reporter: and each county has a different counting plan. cumberland county won't be counting ballots until wednesday, prioritizing in-person voting. mail-in ballots could lag. >> we now believe that election night we'll have all the in-person voting done, and approximately if everything goes well, 50,000 mail-in ballots completed. >> reporter: new hampshire is getting started as election officials there begin partially processing absentee ballots and in minnesota, a bipartisan message from former governors urging patients, warning the count may not be complete on election night.

>> no matter who wins, let's demonstrate the civility and decency that minnesotans are known for! >> reporter: pamela brown, cnn washington. democrats are eyeing texas, hoping they can pry it away from the state's traditional republican base and with a huge surge in early voting, among young people, political experts say joe biden might have a chance against donald trump there. cnn's jason carroll with that. >> reporter: they have been lining up for days as early voting ends friday. more than 8.4 million people have cast ballots in the state, 94% of the overall vote from 2016. both sides are clearly energized but democrats in this reliably red state are feeling more encouraged than they have in decades, thanks to changing

demographics, the party's improved standing and fast growing suburbs and with younger voters like angelica tuton who voted for joe biden. >> i'm the only one in my family that's voting blue this year. >> reporter: do you think biden has a chance in the state of texas. >> i think hade does. >> reporter: the 24-year-old said she lost her job as a server due to the coronavirus. donald trump won tarrant county by 8 points four years ago, two years ago, democrat beto o'rourke narrowly carried it wile coming up short in his bid to defeat ted cruz. >> i listened to some of the things that trump said, and i educated myself a lot more, and i think that this year just in general with everything that's gone on has been the turning point for me. >> reporter: make no mistake, a biden win in texas is still a tall order. the last democratic presidential nominee to win here was jimmy carter in 1976.

but given the early turnout, democrats aren't seeing red, they're seeing purple. one sign of that shift, people like former dallas mayor, steve ba bartlet, a republican who says the former vice president has a shot. >> well, it's gone from being a no shot to a long shot to now a medium shot. >> reporter: bartlet is backing biden saying trump that has not shown the character needed to be an effective president. >> i'm a lifetime republican, but the country is suffering and we will suffer more if we reelect donald trump. >> reporter: democrats are making a late investment in the race with time and money. on sthuthursday, a super pac fu by michael bloomberg added 5.6 medical in ads in the state. kamala harris is making three stops here friday to mobilize new voters and their rapidly diversifying state. >> their much less culturally

conservative, they're diverse, generally better educated and those are the kinds of voters that are more much amenable to voting for a moderate democrat like joe biden. >> reporter: and in tarrant county, many voters from both parties say a biden win in texas could just be wishful thinking. >> he has a chance in maine, but for texans new york city. unlikely. >> it's hard to say because texas has always been a red state, so i'm not really sure. >> reporter: a poll out just this week showing trump up in the state by 3 points, but democrats say in the past a republican candidate would have been up by much more than that. they say once again, this is a sign that things are changing. jason carroll, cnn, dallas, texas. a quick break here on the program. when we come back, as europe struggles to get a grip on its second coronavirus wave, we'll take you inside an intensive care unit in one of the hardest hit countries, belgium. we'll be right back. proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators

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welcome back. now to the surge in coronavirus cases across europe, it's so concerning that the world health organization is once again warning the region is at the epicenter of the pandemic. the w.h.o. says more than 1 1/2 million people were infected in the past week alone in europe. to reign in surging infections, multiple countries and now imposing tougher restrictions. germany will begin a month long partial lock down on monday. it just reported record high new infections for a third consecutive day. and france, now on day one of its second nationwide lock down, people have been ordered to stay home, except for work or medical reasons. now, belgium is seeing one of the worst jooutbreaks of coronavirus in the world, and it is stretching hospitals to breaking point. now, some asymptomatic medical

staff are being asked to keep working even after they test positive. melissa bell is live in brussels, belgium with the latest. what have you been finding, melissa? >> reporter: you mentioned those lock downs that have been put in place in neighboring countries. belgium is likely to follow suit. we expect fresh restrictions to be announced later today. that's because the number of new cases have soared as have hospit hospitalizations nationwide. in some regions like the province, it is above 40%. it's the sound of the icu that many of its nurses can hear even at night. all is calm until one of their covid patients has trouble breathing. so they get kited up and head in, part of a workload that is 200% heavier than with a non-covid patient, according to the ward's head nurse. >> they have to be really fast to get there, to protect

themselves, to avoid taking risks, even as they revive patients. with all those extra layers on, when they come out, they will be sweating. >> reporter: these icu nurses have been through the first wave. some haven't had a break since. now they're on the front line of one of the fastest spreading covid outbreaks in the world. the grass says it all, the positivity rate recorded daily in the hospital's lab shows a vertical climb from early october. tuesday, 2,000 people were tested by the lab. over half were covid-19 positive. >> we have a very alarming positivity rate of 60%. >> reporter: which means say the doctors here that an exponential rise in patients will follow in the next few days. today this icu has just one spare bed, too soon, doctors are going to have to start having to make impossible decisions about

who gets a bed and who does not, about who is most lukely ikely survive. >> it's the sort of decision, contrary to everything we dochlt t -- do. the dream of a doctor is to save lives. it's not to say, i can't save this person and i know it. >> reporter: already the medical staff gets psychological help, techniques borrowed from the israeli army that allow them to identify those struggling with being on the front line of a war that no one is winning, and few outside the hospital really stand. >> the message is very clear, all those people who don't respect the rules who make anti-mask propaganda that spend a day at the hospital, to see patients who can't breathe. to see them isolated from their families because no one can visit, to see them die alone which is psychologically very very difficult.

>> these children have come to say happy birthday from a distance. their only consolation that their loved one was one that got a bed when he needed it. michael what we heard from the medical staff in that hospital was a great deal of frustration at how slow authorities have been to tighten restrictions here, even if a lock down is imposed later today, it will be too late, they told us, simply because it takes a couple of weeks for those measures to make a difference to positivity rates, rises to new cases and in the meantime, those people who have been testing positive this week, many of them are going to be requiring hospitalization, some of them icu treatment, and of course for the time being, there simply isn't the room to take them in. >> lagging indicators, heartbreaking stuff. melissa bell in brussels, thank you very much. well, more now on italy as it breaks its coronavirus case record for the second time this week. cnn's ben wedeman joining me now

from rome. tell us the latest there and how the system is coping? >> reporter: the system is coping at the moment. you have add odd situation where you have almost as many as four times as many active cases than at the height of the pandemic earlier this year but of course the basic numbers are alarming. you have an increase of eight times until the number of positive cases in the last three weeks, so the situation is dire but we did discover a group of americans who despite the situation here and the situation in the u.s. have decided that the grass is greener on this side of the atlantic. >> ben, we'll carry on the conversation at the moment. when it comes to these lock downs, a number of places we've seen pushback from some segments of society. what's been the attitude of the public where you are? >> reporter: just to explain my

policy there, i thought we were going to see our report about americans who have decided to get italian passports and move here. as far as how they're dealing with the situation, we understand that the italian prime minister, ji accegiuseppe is planning to impose what's called a soft lock down, along the lines of what we have seen in france. they're talking about perhaps closing elementary schools to avoid congestion in public transport, which it's believed that is where much of the spread in new cases is taking place. what the government here wants to avoid is a repeat of the more than two months of harsh, extreme lock down that has paralyzed the country and caused untold damage to the italian

economy. so they're trying to do as much as they can to limit the spread without yet again, hobbling an economy that even before coronavirus wasn't in very good shape, michael. >> thanks for that, ben, cnn's ben wedeman in rome. we are joined by dr. peter drawback, an infectious disease expert at oxford university. appreciate your company, doctor, germany, france announcing lock downs of various severity. italy is going to follow suit. in england, infections doubling in three weeks. what is the trajectory, what do you see for the continent. >> we feared that a perfect storm of circumstances in the winter could create a crisis like this, and that's unfortunately exactly what we're seeing. colder, dryer air favors the virus. it pushes us inside where the

risk is higher. kids have been back in school a little bit and she thought weweg flu season which puts a strain on hospitals. a lot of people have been surprised by how quickly countries have moved up the exponential growth curve. we see infections doubling possibly as quickly as nine days in the uk. part of this came down from a little bit of complacency after the summer, after the big surge and extraordinary sacrifice of lock downs. countries were quick to open up, trying to get their economies moving, and rather than crushing the virus, tolerated a baseline level of transmission that was probably too high. now things have taken off and we're in for a difficult winter. we expect more lock downs to follow, unfortunately. >> yeah, you tweeted something on thursday, and i just want to quote it, and i think we can put it up on the screen. we can't sit back and put all of

our hopes in covid-19 convenience. there are no magic bullets out of this pandemic. we need to go on offense against the virus with public health measures and comprehensive strategies to get through the winter, which is good advice because statement, here in the u.s., the president talks of basically an imminent vaccine and then boom, the virus is gone, and that is not how it works, is it. it's not like some anecdote for a snakebite or something? >> that's right. that's exactly right. we don't know exactly. we have to have humility about when the vaccine will come. the process is difficult and unpredictable. and it may take longer than we hoped despite the extraordinary scientific work being done. the first convenience thvaccine the best ones, likely won't provide complete protection, and still, we have to think about the incredible distribution challenges of hundreds of millions if not billions of

people needing to be vaccinated with two doses and a vaccine that needs to be scored at minus 80 degrees celsius in some cases realistically, even under a pretty good case scenario, a year from now, most people are probably not going to have received any kind of covid-19 vaccine, and the point is the virus is raging out of control right now, and we need to be able to respond to that. when i talk about comprehensive strategies, it's yes, let's make sure that we're trying to support the acceleration of the scientific discovery process for vaccines and therapeutics. we have to go on offense and do the public health stuff that works, masks, distancing, testing, tracing, et cetera. >> you're watching cnn newsroom, when we come back after the break. >> the two biggest stories of the day, and have ballot dropoffs while you're getting your covid test. >> find out how the battle

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there is no question wisconsin is a crucial state for both the republican and democratic campaigns. it helped propel donald trump to the white house in 2016, but the election isn't the only thing on the minds of the people there. wisconsin has seen a huge spike in coronavirus cases. bill weir with that. >> the future of wisconsin is being written in long lines, lines to vote, and lines to test as the virus spreads at nightmare rates. >> what are you worried about more these days, covid-19 or the election? >> it would be a toss up. >> reporter: she is among the thousands pouring at the center each day where they knock out one free test every nine seconds. the state's intensive care units will overflow in weeks, an outrageous, preventible straw for biden voters who see trump's mostly maskless rallies as super spreader events. >> we're rounding the curve.

we're rounding corner. >> i don't understand how he can down play the seriousness of this. it just totally escapes me. >> it's wrong. >> i think biden is going to win this state. i think that it has strongly affected the way that i would vote. i think trump has handled this abysmally. >> reporter: in trump's wisconsin, from farm country up north to the suburbs of milwaukee, there is a very different level of covid concern. >> did it affect the way you think about this election? >> not at all. they have lots of hand sanitizer, and they have alcohol wipes, they have glass protection. it's very safe. my biggest reason for voting for trump is biden, i don't believe he's going to live that long, and i am a female, but i just, i'm not real comfortable with two females in office, and i don't care for nancy, so. >> reporter: her fear of nancy pelosi and kamala harris makes her the exception as polls show joe biden holding a wide lead among women. early turnout among younger

voters is also off the charts but milwaukee's black voters have yet to show up in the numbers that helped barack obama with his first win. >> do you see there's a different interest now than in 2016? >> for sure, because of a lot of things that occurred in the united states, with police brutality, you know, and equality with aftrican-american and other brown races. >> reporter: are you worried what happened in kenosha might inspire the other side to come out? >> yeah, it is what it is, most definitely. >> feels like bungee jumping in a hurricane. >> reporter: meanwhile, wisconsin's democrats lost a plea for more time to gather pandemic related mail-in ballots, but there are winning every recently preelection poll. >> it's clear when we look at the numbers, more democrats are voting early and absentee than republicans, and new voters that are likely voting for biden and harris, than voting for republican. a voter in wisconsin has a

bigger say about the future of humanity. >> reporter: have you considered combining the biggest stories of the day and have ballot dropoffs wile getting your covid test. >> i think we want to concentrate on testing here. health is health, and i wish it weren't political. >> reporter: after testing a quarter million people, so far, not a single worker here caught the virus. just more proof that prevention is the best medicine. >> on any given day, one of our testers is probably exposed to about 80 positive cases and they're wearing a mask and a face shield and that's keeping them sach safe. i worry when i see a large gathering without masks because i know the virus is going to spread in the community. i worry for them. i wish people would just wear masks. >> thanks for your company this past hour. spending part of your day with me. i'm michael holmes, "early start" is up next. you are watching cnn. want to brain better? unlike ordinary memory supplements-

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one new case per second, coronavirus reaching unprecedented levels just days before a national referendum on the handling of this pandemic. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, this is "early start," good morning, i'm christine romans. >> good morning, i'm laura jarrett, it's friday, october 30th, it's 5:00 a.m. in new york, just four days until the election, and early voting, in-person voting, i should say, ends today in georgia, idaho, massachusetts, nevada, texas, utah, and parts of arizona. >> so we are heading into the last weekend before the election. and coronavirus is as