>> yes. good news. we hope. fingers crossed. thank you very much for the reporting. and thanks for joining us today. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm jim sciutto. "newsroom" with john king is next. hello, everybody. top of the hour, i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing this day with us. the biden presidential transition kicking into high gear today and a potential break through on the global coronavirus pandemic. the drug maker pfizer said its phase three trial data show a remarkably effective vaccine candidate and they could ask the government soon for permission to put it on the market. you see the president-elect and vice president-elect rolling out a coronavirus advisory board. president-elect biden plans to discuss the challenge after hearing from the experts at the meeting we'll bring you it live when it happens.

also today vice president mike pence reconvenes the trump administration task force. now information sharing between the teams would be helpful but the president so far refusing to accept the election results. the numbers tell us an election like no other will be followed by a transition following the new normal. look at that number, 10 million infections. it's taken just about ten days to go from 9 million to 10 million. sunday's 105,000 plus cases marked the fifth straight day the united states topped 100,000 cases a day. the pfizer vaccine could be a turning point. data showing the vaccine is 90% effective. in the ceo's view, encouraging. >> 90% is a game changer. 90% now you are hoping to have a tool in your war against this pandemic that could be

significantly effective. how long this protection will last is something that we don't know right now, but it's part of the objective we started. >> the president's mornings tweets included praise of the vaccine news. the next political choice sets the tenor in his final ten weeks in office. he has yet to show any evidence of fraud. some telling him the math is overhelming. others cheering the president to fight on. there is talk now of campaign-style rallies to air his grievances. numbers today, the transition and the fight against the coronavirus are related. the election, this is the state that put joe biden over the top, pennsylvania. the president said there was fraud. 45,600 the current biden margin, it has been growing as late votes come in, as they're counted. remember this, the president won

by a slightly smaller margin four years ago. pennsylvania right now 45,670 votes in biden's direction be, as they continue to count the mail-in ballots, it is growing. georgia another state, 49.5 to 49.3, but that 10,612 vote biden lead has been growing. just a bit but has been growing as they count additional late mail in and other metropolitaba. arizona and nevada still to be called. in nevada, vice president biden now president-elect biden, 34,000 plus votes ahead. you look at the numbers, talk to election lawyers they tell you it's unlikely those will be changed. we're waiting to hear from the president. there's a staff meeting right now at the trump campaign headquarters. this red and blue map makes joe biden the president-elect of the united states. this is the country he'll lead

in ten weeks. coronavirus everywhere. and cases on the rise as we showed you in the lead in. that's the challenge right now. numbers to go through, you look at the newly confirmed cases this is stunning, depressing, pick your word for it. the original peak in the spring, the summer surge now this. 105,000 infections on a sunday, that's high for a sunday. saturday a record high more than 128,000 new infections. you see the red line, you don't need the numbers. we're going straight up at the moment. the case count is troubling and beyond. look at a couple of other quick things, people hospitalized. look at this in the context of the spring, the summer about matched it and now hospitalizations across america about to hit the highest point yet. you can see from the trajectory all but certain to pass it. this is the problem. this is the problem across the country. going to stretch this out a bit for you, excuse me for turning my back for a second. i want you to see this. this is stunning when you look at this, why can't you get it

under control? because of the positivity rate, 48% in iowa, 54% in south dakota. 39% in idaho. 37% in kansas. 16% in pennsylvania. 16% and 19% in mississippi and alabama respectively. all across america double digit positivity, which means more new infections today and more people who can spread coronavirus so more new infections tomorrow. dr. scott gottlieb, 70 plus days until joe biden is president. in that period, he thinks as bad as things are now, they're going to get worse. >> by the time the president-elect takes aufs we'll be at the apex of what we're going through right now. this is going to play out over the next couple of months and i think as the president takes office we'll be coming down the other side of the epidemic curve, hopefully. and the question is how many people died in the course of this, and how many people have

been infected. >> we expect to hear from president-elect joe biden after meeting with his experts. we'll bring you that right away. joining me now is dr. john ingles by. i want to start with you, and put up on the screen some of the alarming tweets from the weekend. you're looking at the data and like dr. scott gottlieb you understand the moment. you have one president who hasn't cared much or paid attention to the pandemic, and a new president-elect who said it's his challenge day one. your point is cases are going in the wrong direction and you think governors should step up and meet the challenge. when you look at the data what troubles you most and what do you think needs to be done at the state level at this moment? >> well, many things trouble me you talked about many of them. the number of cases appearing every day. the number of people on ventilators is growing.

the number of people in icus is growing. it's a phenomenon that's spread across the country. it's not just one or two or three places which in the beginning of the pandemic in march or april, we had concentration, places where it was worst. now we're seeing across the midwest, mountain west, rise in cases, which will be followed by increasing numbers of deaths. to the point about the governors, i think it's crucial for the governors to take action in the coming months. we don't know what the current administration will decide to do. but the governors have so much to say and so much influence in how their state does. the decisions they take will dictate what happens in the next couple of months. >> to that point, matt, this is the moment we live in we have a doctor talking about the health challenge and a reporter talking about the political challenge. we're in limbo here. the question is will the trump

administration take the lead from the biden transition? i think the answer is no. will they share information, and will governors decide we'll have a new president in 70 days anyway, i should listen to them. this is what they'll tell me to do in 70 days, maybe i should do it now. you write about the challenge today. the biden team wants to seize on a number of issues, namely covid but the president has yet to concede the election. it could be con pcomplicated b the fact that trump refuses to concede. issue number one, have this meeting right away for the transition team. when you read their covid-19 document, they say the biden administration will always, quote, listen to science, that should not be breaking news but sadly it is breaking news. >> no mistake today the first

day we're seeing joe biden after his victory speech it's all about the coronavirus. that is going to be the key, and will sort of overshadow all the work they're doing as part of the transition about 70 days before the inauguration. to the doctor's point, i think biden himself is going to be calling democratic and republican governors to ask if for their help in developing a consistent message, urging for mask mandates as biden has called for. he's also going to take a little more role in the congressional stimulus package they're going to be talking about here during the lame duck session. so biden really is trying to take more of an assertive role at a time the trump administration is not. and i think that it's a recognition of what he's going to inherent and how much this is going to guide the early part of his administration. >> so, doctor, we don't know if we will see any change in posture or strategy from the

trump administration in its final days we know vice president pence is convening a meeting of the task force today but there's a lot of infighting on the task force. we know who the biden team is, my question, what do we expect from it? dr. david kessler, dr. vivek murthy, dr. marcella nunez-smith who's an infectious disease expert. these are three of the leading members of the commission. the biden plan includes access to regular, more reliable testing. the cdc would give evidence-based guidance for small businesses and schools. invest $25 billion for the vaccine and distribution plan and working with state and local officials to implement a mask mandate. from the team and the plan, what do you think would be the most significant change even if we have to wait 70 days to get it? >> what i can say about that

first of all is the task force is extraordinary. the leadership and background of the people on the task force announced today are -- is tremendous. so it's very exciting to see that, and the plan that's already been announced, i think also is quite impressive. and really kind of walks across the landscape of the problems. i can't say what is going to happen yet because i think it's just being announced. but i -- i'm impressed with the direction they're headed. i wanted to go back to one thing you said earlier about what dr. gottlieb said. i think one thing i'm worried about is people in the country will feel this peace in the middle east -- this peak we're starting to rise up is inevitable, and that's not true. people if they make decisions individually, with masks, physical distancing, avoiding large gatherings that can make a difference. if governors restrict high risk activities that can make a di s

difference. israel about a month ago, they had a high peak, they shut things down, it's obviously a smaller country but within three weeks they had a dramatic reduction in cases. it's not like everything ahead of us is inevitable. but i think both leaders and individuals could make a difference. >> i hope in this environment, there's a lot of raw feelings after the election. i hope all americans listen to experts like you. that is the question of the moment. we have the meeting at the trump campaign headquarters today. we have biden trying to get the administration's transition plan up and running as fast as possible. then you have a question, i want you to listen here. this is some of the president's republican allies, ted cruz and lindsey graham saying don't give up, mr. president, keep pushing. >> trump has not lost. do not concede, mr. president, fight hard. >> i believe president trump still has a path to victory. and that path is to count every

single legal vote cast, but also not to cast any votes that were fraudulently or illegally cast. we have a legal process to determine what's legal and what isn't. >> we do have a legal process, and again, the president didn't complain of fraud when he won pennsylvania by 40,000 votes now he's complaining when he lost by a bigger margin. they have every right to use legal avenues, raise their hand if they have evidence and document it. so far they have no evidence. this is the republican conservative ambitious lieutenant governor of the state of georgia saying so far, zip. >> we've not had any sort of credible incidents raised to our level yet. we'll continue to make sure that the -- the opportunity to make sure every legal ballot is counted is there. but at this point we've not seen any sort of credible examples. >> will the president listen to people like lieutenant governor duncan, who say you have to show it to me or continue to be egged

on. if you want to have information sharing between the trump task force and the biden task force, if you want a smooth transition of power, they need to cooperate, not fight. >> that's the point. the transition period. the biden campaign is moving forward and they can only move forward so much without cooperation from the trump side. so far the gsa administrator, a trump appointee, has not allowed that process to move forward. there's not cooperation between the two. so far republicans, you know, have not kind of come around on this. mitch mcconnell has not said whether joe biden is the winner or not. top republican leaders are withholding this, aside from a couple senators, george w. bush yesterday trying to put a little bit of pressure, calling joe biden to congratulate him. and world leaders are expressing congratulations to joe biden. so so far, you know, there are political implications of this,

but i think the important part is the actual implications of not engaging in a transition at a point where we're dealing with coronavirus, economic fallout, and a lot of raw emotions after this election. transitions are always difficult but the moment here could be met with more, shall we say, responsibility. we'll see how it plays out. grateful for your reporting and insights today. up next we continue the conversation, president pushing allies in joining him in refusing to accept the election results. and many republicans remain afraid to defy him. fenses every, with vitamin c, d and zinc. season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum.

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so far his approach is as promised during the campaign, attacking any vote he didn't win as rigged. there's no evidence to support the president's claims, but his allies promise to fight. sources are telling cnn the trump campaign now planning a messaging blitz to claim the election is being stolen and the campaign considering holding campaig campaign-style rallies to amplify the complaints. john harwood joins me. i get losing is terrible especially for a president who says he's always a winner but the math here is pretty overwhelming. >> it's one of the strangest things i've seen covering politics at least as long as you have john. we know from the magic wall that joe biden is president-elect not because the wall is magic but it incorporated the votes of 150 million americans. states have not certified their results yet however it's clear that joe biden will have more than enough votes to win the

election. and the prospect of the president overturning enough votes in enough states to change that is nejliable. they haven't offered any evidence. nevertheless pressing ahead with press conferences, potentially rallies and with legal fights. legal fights will tend to get thrown out quickly if there is not evidence behind them. and the question is how long can this go on? bill stepien the campaign manager had a staff meeting this morning which he said we're still in the fight but he even acknowledged what he called amateur hour in part of the efforts by the campaign, including the circulation of fake photo shopped headlines from newspapers in the bush/gore fight a long time ago. so how long can the trump campaign and the trump white house go on before they are worn down by reality we don't know the answer. but one date to watch is november 15th. that's when the paychecks run out for the trump campaign staff and that potentially is where

some of the steam might come out of the effort, john. >> excellent point to make. the staffers work hard in this campaign so we wish them the best. they deserve the right to know, is it time to move on? what should they be doing? john harwood, appreciate that reporting there. let's continue the conversation. the president's unare proven claims of election fraud are a little different this time. in 2016 when he lost the popular vote he said that was because some 6 million undocumented immigrants illegally cast ballots for hillary clinton that was a fantasy. and a trump appointed commission found zero proof. this time we're asked to believe that the biden surge came from dead people casting ballots. jessica snider is here to fact check the claims. they have the right to say things but to over turn an election you have to put it on paper and prove it. >> no proof. this is a false claim that dead people have voted.

it is baseless. but it's a claim we've seen the president might try to promote as he refuses to concede and continues to cast doubt on the integrity of the election. so this is a false claim that's spread through videos on social media. here at cnn we did an analysis out of michigan and did not find a single instance of a dead person on the voter rolls who submitted a ballot. the claim was people could steal information and show up posing as that person. but that theory it's been debunked. cnn examined 50 names at random and when we ran through those names through michigan's voter information database we saw if they requested or returned a ballot. 37 of those 50 names they were dead but they had not voted. and then five out of the 50 we checked had voted but were still alive and the remaining eight were also alive but didn't vote. while there are still dead

people on the voter lists for various reasons, the idea that people are taking those names and voting is not true. to prove that we have this. a statement from the -- a spokesperson for the secretary of state in michigan saying this. in the unlikely event that someone who was alive and had their identity verified when they requested a ballot died before receiving it and someone else attempted to vote as them, the signature mismatch would once again flag it for rejection. then we have the brennan center for justice echoing that. saying, the consensus from credible research and investigation is that the rate of illegal voting is extremely rare and the incidents of certain types of fraud, such as impersonating another voter is virtually nonexistent. that last part is an important part of the quote to keep in mind as the trump campaign continues to push the false narrative. and as we could see more lawsuits pop up this week, voter

fraud is virtually nonexistent. even if they did find instances, it wouldn't be large enough in numbers to put a dent right now in joe biden's lead. john? >> jessica snyder, important reporting. this is a put up or you know what moment. if you have the proof, put it up, otherwise do the ore thing. next up, president-elect biden calling for unity across the country. the challenge includes uniting his own party.

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it is president-elect joe biden, that's what this map tells us. and we continue to get results from states. one of the states where it is close is georgia. they're still counting mail-in ballots you see president-elect biden's lead 21,621 votes. just moments ago. gwinnett county new votes. it's exciting, election day continues we continue to count votes. just in, 407 votes for now president-elect joe biden. 274 votes for president trump. green party candidate got a few

votes there but joe biden getting 58.2%. 58.2%. so this is the challenge for joe biden. you have a lead, you want to essentially match what you're getting in gwinnett county. is there any chance president trump can catch up with the late county votes? we projected the race because the answer is no there's more proof there. we'll continue to do this count votes. georgia just one of the states. over the weekend, the president-elect's lead in pennsylvania grew. in nevada grew. it did shrink a little bit in arizona. still counting the votes. when we get new votes we'll bring them to you. but no doubt joe biden is the president-elect. and already a post-election family feud among democrats. the blue wave not realized. some moderates say progressives advocating medicare for all and defunding police, hurt the brand. some democrats saying, no.

pushing back. this is ilhan omar yesterday. >> we have seen things like increasing the minimum wage when as a ballot measure in florida while some democrats lost. we saw policies like legalizing marijuana win in montana and other places. our policies are resonating with the american people. and if our big tent democratic party wants to govern on behalf of all americans, we should have a seat at the table. >> jamal bowman is a congressman elect in new york city. he's now the projected winner from the general election on tuesday. congratulations. first. let's start there. >> thank you, thank you so much, john. great to be with you. >> you're going to come to washington and instantly be put in the middle of a family. it's like a big thanksgiving dinner and everybody gets together and you're a family and occasionally people get fights.

a new colleague is abigail spamberger a moderate from a district president trump carried before she won re-election but a couple friends lost and she's not happy and blames progressives. listen. >> not only did we not win the senate but we lost house seats that we shouldn't have lost, in my opinion. great members who were focused on the issues that matter to people and had voted on issues that matter to people. and what i expressed to my colleagues is this is a place where we need to do an after-action report about how we thought what would happen was so different from, in fact, what did happen. >> she said one of the problems is democrats who push for defunding police. democrats who identify as democratic socialists. do you agree? >> i disagree. you have to run your race in your district in response to the needs of the people in your district. and if you're responding to their needs, and if you're

building relationships and making directiconnections and d everything you have to do, you should be able to win your race. this is about deep, authentic relationships, this is about transformational politics and i disagree someone running on a different platform hundreds of miles away is going to impact what happens in a particular race. i disagree. i agree with the need to do a thorough analysis into why certain candidates won in particular districts and why others did not win. i think that's very important for us to become a data-driven democratic party. but i disagree with the notion it's the fault of progressives. especially when you look at how much progressives organized across the country to help joe biden win and how we're going to continue to make sure we win the two democratic senate seats in georgia. >> so those two democratic seats in georgia will decide which

party controls the senate. northwe it'll be divided. you lost a little bit on the house majority, you're a new member, congratulations. but nancy pelosi if she's reelected speaker, will have a smaller majority. if joe biden meets with you in january and says, look, thank you, number one we share goals but we can't sell medicare for all. we'll try to do a modest build on obamacare. we can't do as much as you want to do on climate change, we have to trim our sails there. are you going to say, i get the math or are you going to say, no, mr. president you won, be bolder? >> we've already been pushing throughout the biden campaign, it was a biden/sanders coalition that made it the central focus of the campaign, made racial equity a focus and president-elect joe biden and

vice president-elect kamala harris focused on universal child care and early child care education. so we have begun to work in collaboration with the white house to make sure our progressive policies are on the agenda and we'll continue to work in collaboration with the white house and our colleagues in congress. we have to. that's our mandate from the america people. the american people support medicare for all in overwhelming numbers. the american people support a reallocation of resources from how we look at public safety now, which is additional police to how we should look at public safety which is food security, housing security, job programs and fully funding education. so we'll continue to have the conversations around the thanksgiving table, as you mentioned, because we have to be responsive to the american people and the american people who came out for joe biden and pushed him over the top in detroit and philadelphia and milwaukee and atlanta.

these are majority urban centers of color, they came out and helped joe biden win the election. so we have to be responsive to their needs. >> congressman-elect bowman, great to meet you. >> stocks surging after the coronavirus vaccine news and the markets apparently like the election results. irresistibly smooth chocolate. ♪ to put the world on pause. lindor. made to melt you. by the lindt master chocolatier.

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financial markets are soaring right now. you see the big board there. the dow up more than 1,000 points the gains following the announcement by pfizer this morning that its coronavirus vaccine candidate is 90% effective. investors also reacting positive to news that joe biden is now president-elect of the united states. allison is tracking the markets from the stock exchange for us. they are big numbers. >> reporter: they are. just when you thought it couldn't be much to overshadow who won the presidential race then came the news from pfizer about a viable covid vaccine. that as you can see is sending stocks rocketing higher. i can't stress enough how critical a vaccine is to getting the economy back on track. that is what wall street is seeing. it's seeing the vaccine as a

game changer. and now there's talk about a post covid world where there's a prediction that we could see a snap back in the economy in 2021. now we did see stocks jumping before we got the news from pfizer on joe biden's presidential victory. the investors that i'm talking to, they are okay with a biden victory here because there wasn't a blue wave in congress. we are looking at a gop controlled senate apparently and a democratic controlled house. and the way wall street sees it is gridlock is good. a divided government is good. it puts the checks and balances into play and it's less likely we'll see tax hikes. there's a caveat with the senate as you know, the runoff race on january 5th in georgia for those two senate seats. >> always makes me shake my heads when you hear investors say gridlock is good. grateful for the update. the dow now up 1,100.

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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit important breaking news into cnn. ben carson tested positive for coronavirus this morning. carson attended the election night party at the white house where the chief of staff mark meadows and most other attendees were not wearing masks. meadows and four others in trump's orbit since tested positive. carson was also at a campaign rally in michigan on october 30th, seen there without a mask as well. tweets from the president and his sons challenging election results remind us the transition

of power is a legal drama as well as political tug of war. president trump used the presidency to stall several investigations and lawsuits related to his business dealings and to his personal conduct. the protections would lapse the moment joe biden takes oath of office. some include defamation lawsuits and investigations into the trump organization. kara, once the president leaves 1600 pennsylvania avenue, it is harder to keep pushing and pushing to delay and stall. >> reporter: that's right, john. the president has been able to use his position to delay multiple investigations and lawsuits and that will go away come end of january when joe biden is sworn into office. the most serious of them is the criminal investigation by the manhattan district attorney office, said it is a broad investigation, could involve from tax fraud to insurance fraud. that case is delayed because of fight over a subpoena for the president's tax returns. we expect a decision on that any day now by the supreme court.

but that's not the only one. new york attorney general office is also investigating a civil investigation into the trump organization, looking whether they improperly inflated value of certain assets, certain properties they're digging into. the attorney generals for washington, d.c. and maryland sued over the ee mmoluments iss. they are saying he illegally profited. and that lawsuit has been on hold. 30 subpoenas held up because the president is in office. come january, those subpoenas will be able to be sent. and civil audit by the irs. "new york times" reported that the irs is looking into nearly $73 million tax refund the president has taken. that's a civil audit. at this point, if the irs were to find against the president, could result in fines reaching more than $100 million, but there's always a possibility it could be referred to department

of justice if the irs believes that there was some kind of electrical wrongdoing. but there are a number of other lawsuits ongoing that relate to the president's personal conduct. he has two defamation lawsuits, one brought by e. jean carol, who alleged he rapd her in a new york store dressing room in the '90s. trump tried to get the doj involved but a judge in new york rejected that. that lawsuit will continue, they're seeking the president's dna. also a lawsuit by someone on the apprentice, she alleged the president sexual assaulted her. she has a defamation case ongoing. and there's also a lawsuit by the president's niece, mary trump. she sued the president, alleging he engaged in fraud relating to family assets. john, a lot of issues coming to a head for the president once he leaves office. >> that adds oomph to the

transition. looks like he will have several days in court. grateful for the update and reporting. global leaders reacting to the victory. some, including russia, keeping quiet. take you to the president-elect of the united states, joe biden. >> i am humbled by the trust and telephones the american people placed in me and vice president elect harris. we are ready to get to work addressing the needs of the american people. today, that work begins. it starts with doing everything possible to get the covid-19 under control so we can reopen businesses safely and sustainably, resume our lives, put this pandemic behind us. and we just received positive news in this fight with announcement that there's been

progress made toward a successful vaccine. soon the expectation is the fda will run the process of rigorous reviews and approvals. and the process must also be grounded in science and fully transparent so the american people can have every confidence that any approved vaccine is safe and effective. at the same time, it is clear this vaccine, even if approved, will not be widely available for many months yet to come. the challenge before us right now is still immense and growing, and although we are not in office yet, i mislaying out what we expect to do and hope some of it can be done between now and the time we are sworn in. the purpose of this is to let you know what we're going to do once sworn in. there's a need for bold action to fight this pandemic. we're still facing a very dark winter. there are nearly 10 million covid cases in the united

states. last week we topped 120,000 new cases on multiple successive days. infection rates are going up, hospitalizations are going up, deaths are going up. this crisis claims nearly a thousand american lives a day. nearly 240,000 deaths so far. the projections indicate we could lose 200,000 more lives in coming months, before a vaccine can be made widely available. so we can't forego important work needs to be done between now and then to get our country through the worst wave yet in this pandemic, to reduce the spread, to save lives. that's why today i have named a covid-19 transition advisory reboard, comprised of distinguished public health experts to help the transition team translate the plan into action. a blueprint that we can put in

place as soon as kamala and i are sworn into office on january 20th, 2021. we will seek to add other members to the board during the important, additional important perspectives on public health and expertise throughout the transition. this group will advise on detailed plans, build on a bedrock of science, keep compassion, empathy and care for every american at its core, making rapid testing more widely available, much more widely available, building a core of contact tracers who will track and curb the disease while we prioritize getting vaccines to the most at risk populations. developing clear and detailed guidance, providing necessary resources for small businesses, schools, child care centers to reopen and operate safely and effectively during the pandemic, protecting both workers and the

public, scaling up life-saving treatments and therapeutics and when it is ready, making sure approved vaccine is distributed equitiably and free for every american. with cases rising once more, it is imperative we ramp up production of personal protective equipment, to make sure our brave health care workers have what they need to do battle safely against the virus. we're going to get states, cities, and tribes the tests and the supplies they need, we're going to protect vulnerable populations who are at risk, most at risk from the virus, older americans and those with pre-existing conditions. we're going to address health and economic disparities that mean this virus is hitting the black, latino, asian american, pacific islanders, harder than white communities. focus on these communities is one of the priorities, not an afterthought.

the bottom line, i will spare no effort to turn the pandemic around once we are sworn in january 20th. to get our kids back to school safely, our businesses growing, and our economy running full speed again, and to get an approved vaccine manufactured and distributed as quickly as possible to as many americans as possible, free of charge. we will follow the science. we'll follow the science. let me say that again. and we'll adjust to new data when it comes in and we'll listen and work in cooperation with governors and local leaders of both parties, who are fighting the virus in their communities this very day. there's so much good work happening at state and local levels across the country, governors, mayors, they're stepping up. the advisory reboard will listen and learn lessons from their experience, and because we know we won't fully defeat covid-19

until we defeat it everywhere, the advisory council includes those on global health security to restore leadership to fight this pandemic. this is a crisis that effects everyone. as i said throughout this campaign, i will be a president for every american. this election is over. it is time to put aside partisanship and rhetoric that designed, basic responsible public health steps like mask wearing, social distancing. we have to come together to heal the soul of this country so we can effectively address this crisis as one country. we are hard working americans have each other's backs and united in our shared goal, defeating the virus. as you work towards a safe and effective vaccine, we know the single most effective thing we can do to stop the spread of

covid is wear a mask. the head of the cdc warned this fall, for the foreseeable future, a mask remains the most potent weapon against the virus. today's news doesn't change that urgent reality. i won't be president until january 20th. my message today is to everyone, is this. doesn't matter who you voted for, whether you stood, where you stood before election day, doesn't matter your party, your point of view. we can save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. not democrat or republican lives, american lives. you know, maybe we saved the life of a person who stocks the shelf at the local grocery store. maybe saves the life of a member of your place of worship. maybe it saves the lives of one of your children's teachers.