curiosity. >> drew griffin with the reporting and the receipts tonight. thanks so much, drew. a reminder, don't miss anderson's digital new show 6:00 p.m. eastern at cnn.com/fullcircle and on the cnn app at any time on demand. i hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time". >> welcome to primetime. we all have reason to be thankful tonight. the biden administration can finally start the job. the gsa lifted its revenge block that it had on behalf of trump. this is a victory for democracy. but the lesson is in how we got here. even this move is proof of what we must stomp out in our politics. the gsa head writes, i have always strived to do what's right. please know that i came to my decision independently based on the law and available facts.

i was never directly or indirectly pressured by any executive branch official, including those that work at the white house or gsa with regard to the substance or timing of my decision. carefully worded and with good reason. you know why? she was just doing her job. she was refusing to do her job. and on what basis? there was no legitimate basis. there were no facts she could draw on to question the results or the apparent winner. so what did she base it on? she was never pressured. then how about this tweet that followed right after her transition? trump tweeted, i told her to do this. i'm not going to read it. it's no need to anymore. lie, defy, deny. that is why he lost. and get this, he's worried that this tantrum that has kept us from dealing with a pandemic in our duly elected president-elect, it may hurt his

brand. know this. this is your brand, mr. trump. you will forever be remembered as viciously divisive and a demagogue. a man that died about a pandemic to suit his own interests, period, amen. and here is another nail in this coffin. >> the city of detroit probably had more voters than it had citizens. i'm a i'm exaggerating a bit. >> you think? he literally had b.s. coming out of his ears, literally. but, look, the cast of fulls is not just the lawyers. come on. it is about the man who lost and all those who sat idle. not a single goper has called out trump's savaging of our democracy. know that. now the election is released

from the grip of this gripe that trumpers hold. now we can get to the real fight for relief for all of those suffering and literally going hungry in the richest country in the world. maybe some plans, resources in fighting the pandemic and figuring out our panic approach to school. look, a president who cares about the problems will admit them and give you the truth about them is already a positive step. our job here is to hold this administration to doing exactly that and we will. but it is also the job not to be so focussed on the desperate need to move forward that we forget how we got here. if we don't expose and hold those who allowed this travesty to happen, if we don't hold them to account, they will just keep doing what trump demands. not with chuckles. that's not going to be me. oh, come on, senator. isn't that too cute by half,

congressman? no. what happened here was ugly and intentional. and the response must be served directly and cold. all those who stood silent and pretended this was just about style and things they wouldn't say but he can and that there were legitimate issues to litigate, they knew better. they never offered you a piece of proof and they never asked for any either. 16 days were stolen. how many of you paid the price of this inaction? of this cowardess? of this economic pain that they did nothing about. and now they say, oh, the kind of scrutiny cuomo is talking about, it makes us victims once and for all. shut up. remember what your job is. do it or get out. and you must remember who failed to do their jobs but just importantly why. a reminder of our politics at its worst.

demand better from those in power, yes, every day. and those who may do nothing but oppose even in a pandemic. also, remember what worked best for us here, okay? it was not our politicians. law and order. not trump's perverse laying down the law that keeps his lackeys in order, no not that. real justice made his claims the mockery that cowards in congress hid from at every turn. never forget when we argue that the courts matter. they literally saved this transition. one thing, though, that i believe doesn't deserve a word more and i don't get it when my brothers and sisters in the media keep playing to this. who cares if trump concedes? it's not in the law. it is a tradition that gives a nod to decency and disagreement. he's never been about that. you know it.

why give him another chance to lie about the election or anything else or everything else? he isn't going to tell his followers to do anything but give him more money for a lost cause and use it maybe even on something else. less is more from trump, and i hope you all know that. now tonight we start. we have a much clearer picture of the direction our country is going to take in the next 58 days, assuming trump doesn't do anything to screw it up further. we know our president-elect's incoming administration is speedily taking formation. he's announcing new and historic cabinet picks on some levels as well as appointments to other top tier positions. so let's figure out all that has us at this moment. this is a historic night. let's bring in kaitlyn collins and joe lockhart. before we even begin, if i don't get to see you guys this week, i'm thankful for you both. kaitlyn, you are a star.

and, joe, you keep us following the right star when it talks to the democrats about what they're supposed to be. that will be ever more valuable even now. i'm thankful for you. kaitlyn, what i am hearing was that trump was getting worried about his brand and that maybe it was time to do something different. what are you hearing about how we got here? >> i think that's certainly the concern with people around the president and that's why you saw them going to the president urging him to move forward with this sascertainment because you were starting to see a crack in gop support here. it's not big steps from republican lawmakers. it's small steps. you started to see more and more people come forward saying that this is something that needed to happen. so of course the way the president framed it in his tweet shortly after this letter was sent to the biden team by gsa saying this is actually going to happen, the president makes it sound like he is allowing it to happen, like he is authorizing

it. but if you read the text of the letter, you see the gsa administrator is saying i made this decision free from pressure from the executive branch she claims. that's the question going forward, is what was the president's level of involvement here? i think the important thing to remember is just because the president signed off on this does not mean he's going to stop pushing disinformation about this election, stop with the lawsuits. >> or do something else to hinder the transition at some point. let's bring in joe. joe, how do you play as democrats? i want to talk to you about how the president-elect is populating this team and what it says about which way he wants to go. but what is the right play with all the trumpery and the people in congress who said nothing about what he was doing here when they knew there was no basis for it? what is the right play for biden? >> well, you know, i think joe biden has played it perfectly up until now, which he hasn't taken

the bait. he hasn't engaged trump and sunk to trump's level. you know, i think now he's doing what he should be doing, which is focussing on the future and making president trump irrelevant. you know, that's what happens with lame duck presidents. you know, the announcements of the appointments today, probably the most significant way you can underline the fact that you are taking over government and really kind of tuning out the noise that trump has thrived on and, you know, returning government to things like competence and american values. >> kaitlyn, what is the word about what they expect from republicans in the house and the senate going forward? >> i think they still know that their political faith could be tied to donald trump. that's why they have been navigating this so carefully, trying not to, of course, ruin their reputations by refusing to recognize a legitimate president but also not to anger donald trump who is still going to have a lot of sway in the republican

party. one thing you have to look at is while he has been fighting this and pursuing all of this litigation in court is the president is also fund-raising. that fund-raising they say is going towards these election defense funds. but it is also going towards the president's new political action committee, which is going to help him have influence over the republican party going forward. so you can't ignore that. and republicans are certainly not and that's why they have been trying to straddle this line here of what exactly it is they're going to do because they know donald trump will loom large over the gop for years to come. how do they gently get him to move to this spot here while also not angering him to where there is a chance he could affect their future. >> any word about trump reaching out to president-elect biden? >> no word yet. the last thing we heard is the president saying he is not going to concede this race ever. that was his latest thinking from what we heard from sources. while he may be edging closer to moving on with the logistical

next steps, the idea he's going to come out and acknowledge he lost this election in a free and fair way does not seem realistic to the people who speak with him on a regular basis. >> joe, let's look at the team. do we have a graphic of the choices that have been made yet or should i just go through them? no? i didn't even hear what they said. joe, let's talk about some of the names that have been offered up and what they mean to you. secretary of state we don't know yet. but give us some of the different ones. >> well, listen, i think it says a couple of things. if you look at the whole package, first, it is historic for women. women taking over jobs that the women have never held. they have been male dominated. at treasury with janet yellen. the intelligence agencies and secretary of defense, those are all positions that have been dominated by men. it is shattering parts of the glass ceiling as we look at it. the second thing with, you know,

with all of those that i have mentioned and people like tony blinken and ron klain at the white house, this is biden's team. these are no nonsense people who are not out with their own political agendas. this will be a team that joe biden knows and trusts and will hit the ground running. the last thing i'd say about tony blinken, the new secretary of state, is he is trusted around the world. and that, i think, as joe biden says, our first priority is restoring trust with our allies. >> kaitlyn, what is the word on the early rounds of population by biden? >> i think so far the question is, you know, they are so different than the people the president picked. a lot of people were people he felt pressured to pick by people who were advising him when he was new to washington. i think that's kind of the opposite of what you are seeing

here with biden. these are people that of course he's known. he knowing washington incredibly well. the president's people use that as a criticism of him saying he's a creature of washington. but this could help joe biden because he has experience here. he knows these people. they're people he's familiar with. the president picked a lot of people he met and sometimes he had spoken with them for half an hour in trump tower during that transition period and they got the job. they said later they were surprised by that. >> right. >> i think it is a much different transition process and it will be a different period going into this than it was at the beginning of donald trump's presidency. >> biden can't pick better people than trump did, she should quit today. joe, welcome to the new normal of a biden-harris administration and questions that will be coming to you on this show. this is not a group that is designed to work well with republicans. joe biden said i want to bring in people where i can have

voices that will be responded to on the other side. that means republicans. this is not voices outside the box. and this is not voices that republicans want to hear. is that the right first step? >> well, i agree that there is probably no voice from the democratic party that republicans currently want to hear. but if you look at some of the picks, you may be surprised on their reputation and their ability to reach across the aisle. i mean, tony blinken was the staff director of the senator foreign relations committee which ran in a bipartisan way. janet yellen is respected by republicans, democrats. she was chairman of the federal reserve, the council of economic at the white house under bill clinton. so there are picks here that michelle who is respected among republicans. it is going to be up to republicans, though. >> but do you think he will pick

any republicans. bernie is not for the republicans. but to andrew yang, to go to somebody who is outside the box and that may be able to resonate with republicans or republicans by party. >> listen, i don't know definitively the answer. but biden is going to go with people he knows and biden knows a lot of republicans. >> right. and, look, i know that joe biden, the president-elect, would say, hey, don't sell me short, man. i get it. i get it. i'm just saying that in populating the team, if there are no republicans among it, if there is nobody who they trust, you know, it is just going to be a consideration for sure. kaitlyn collins, thank you very much. joe lockhart, it is good to have your acumen. best to you and your families for thanksgiving. even with trump allowing a transition, he still is pretending he can reverse

history. and here's my problem. who is speaking out to say it's wrong? not that his lawyers stink. not that sydney powell isn't part of the team. why aren't they saying the right thing? i have a former trump white house lawyer here. what does he make of the state of play? and what it means for his party that he loves next. with new rewards from chase freedom unlimited, i now earn even more cash back? oh i got to tell everyone. hey, rita! you now earn 3% on dining, including takeout! bon appetit. hey kim, you now earn 5% on travel purchased through chase! way ahead of you! hey, neal! you can earn 3% at drugstores. buddy, i'm right here. why are you yelling? because that's what i do! you're always earning with 5% cash back on travel purchased through chase, 3% at drugstores, 3% on dining including takeout, and 1.5% on everything else you buy. chase. make more of what's yours.

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the gsa is allowing the formal transition process to move forward. it is not some magic wand. the country's next president not only has to play catchup but he has to do it during a pandemic when we don't have time to spare. look what's happening to our holidays. trying to get 70 million americans to buy into something different is not going to be easy, especially when republicans have done nothing but played to feelty.

service to trump. not loyalty to country. this isn't patriotism. now, where do we go from here? and how do the republicans reconcile what got us here? let's discuss with a very, very interesting guest. always but certainly tonight. jim schultz served in the white house council office under don mcgahn. knows the players very well. first i'd like to stay in character but i can't. you know i wish you and the family the best for thanksgiving. i wish the family well. thank you for being here tonight. the obvious question -- >> happy to be on. >> what are you doing here? you can't be on tv unless you're crazy enough to come on here. >> always happy to be on your show. >> your side is not coming. why are you here? why are you happy to be? >> because you asked me on, chris, and i always give you the straight shot. >> but what about what it means

to your party? >> look, i think what we have seen play out over the last -- there was a lot of patience given to watch -- to allow this legal process to play out. but by the republican side and quite frankly by the democratic side. and it's played out in a way that's been a train wreck. it's been a train wreck because not just bad lawyering but also because bad facts. and when you don't have the facts, you argue the law. when you don't have the law, you pound your fist and there has been a lot of fist pounding by rudy giuliani and that team and the fist pounding has to stop. we saw a case the other day here in pennsylvania. judge bran i thought was generous in his decision. i think that there were some theories put before him. there was no evidence put before him and some theories there. when you have, you know, issues regarding, you know, distance

and poll watchers not being close enough to view, that's something that should happen at the time, not a week before thanksgiving. you don't go to court a week before thanksgiving with that issue. that's been the problem here all along, is that the timing, the arguments, the facts, they just don't allow for, you know, quite frankly, a winning strategy here. >> well, that's because -- >> the country has been patient with it. >> right. >> i agree with you. there are no facts here. the country has been confused and scared, anxious. the democrats, have they been patient with it? yeah. but they didn't have any power, so they didn't have any chance but to be patient. the republicans have the power. and i have never seen anything like this. these men and women wouldn't call him president-elect. said there were real issues when they were asked for proof privately and publically they'd

say i don't have it. >> i think the time to put up or shut up was about a week or so ago. >> 16 days ago. >> there has been nothing put up. the week of the election they made some allegations and they have to back up those allegations in court. >> jimmy, in 2016 -- i appreciate you saying this and i know it is not easy for you to say. not personally. >> no, it's easy for me to say. >> frankly, i think it's good heat to get. jimmy, people are going to be remembered for what they did and didn't do here. and we have never seen anything like this. they said, oh, well, you know, there are issues. big-time republicans in highly elected office. mcconnell, it always goes this way. it has never gone this way, and they know it. why should america believe that these people who really aren't republicans anymore, they're trumpers. and what will this mean going

forward for biden? how can we expect anything but opposition, more defying norms and denying the reality to serve the man that may come back. >> that's the difference, chris. i think the legislature, congress again has been patient with the president, has been patient with the legal team. they said they had facts. they didn't have the facts. the legal team hasn't presented any facts to date that can win anything. they just went into the appellate court in pennsylvania to argue that -- third circuit. no, they have gone into the third circuit again. it's not even properly before the third circuit at this point in time. so, i mean, this was something that was meant for the district court. they are going and saying, look, we recognize that the trump campaign has said that they recognize that the certification is going to likely have it, but we would like to enjoin the certification, right. >> right. >> or file for relief to object

to the effect of the certification. i don't know what that means from a legal perspective. >> it doesn't mean anything. >> it's not going to make any sense to the judge. and i think this legal team is coming dangerously close in some of these instances to ending up with sanctions. i think if it weren't rudy giuliani there, they would have had sanctions. >> they let sydney powell, a woman working with rudy giuliani, she says the most obnoxious baseless things. they then say, well, she's freelancing. they never say what she was saying was baseless or obnoxious. it's an obvious play from dirty politics 101. >> hugo chavez, really? that's what we're going to talk about? we were in the realm of ridiculousness there. >> i think you are going to start -- now that we have seen the president and we can talk a little more about this.

but now that we have seen the president and by extension through gsa to release the funds and begin that process of a transition, i think you are going to see republicans start to move towards the center here in terms of, you know, in terms of the transitioning and calling for a full transition and calling for some of these lawsuits that are frivolous in most instances. >> what good is it now? they have shown who they are. >> but i think also the president's legal team needs to speak truth to power to a certain extent and be realistic about what these cases are. >> lawyers don't speak truth to power. >> they are still his lawyers. any good lawyer does. >> he's still paying them more than not. look, i know you care about your party. i know you are a member of the party going forward. i have to tell you, i don't care how the audience feels about it. there is a reason you haven't seen what jimmy schultz is doing tonight. >> i have to tell you, chris, i feel good about it.

we had a lot of wins down ballot. >> yes. >> in a state like pennsylvania, we won state treasurer and state auditor general that i don't think we won since i was in my teens. >> you got almost 60% of the state offices. >> attorneying general, governors. we're winning across the country. >> yep. >> why is that? because the trump policies and the republican policies are something that people can support. in this case the president didn't win an election. >> any republican would have given the policies. >> you can't deny the fact that the guy picked up 70 million votes and a blue color electorate in a place like western pennsylvania where you have hard working folks that came out in droves for him. >> because they were desperate. >> those folks were democrats six years ago and they were voting democrat across the ticket. >> i'm talking about something else. people are desperate.

they're starving in a way we haven't seen since the great depression. i don't understand how you think you get to a better place as party. how can they trust these men and women in congress that they just watched lie or sit silent when they knew this country is being lied to. >> because america is not ready for aoc style politics. america wants to see republicans holding the liberal democrats accountable. they want to look -- they want to see an insurance policy against the liberal policies that are going to come out of a biden-harris administration. i think that's why you have seen what you have seen and that's why i have hope for our party because you are going to have republicans holding democrats accountable, you know, depending upon what happens in georgia and the senate, and we have seen a lot of gains in the house. now the republicans in the house really matter. before they didn't matter as much. now they do because of the wins they had.

divided government is a good thing. and i think the american people are anxious to see that. >> i fine with you except on one thing. culturally we're screwed. it doesn't matter who the out party is. all they tried to do is keep the other party from doing anything. >> that's happened on the democratic side, too. like it was no, no, no to republican agenda. i'm for that. >> i'm saying we need more than two parties. all i'm saying is this. you guys are in a hole not because you lost. you did well down ballot. this country set an interesting and mixed message. >> this party won across the board, chris. >> yeah, except the seat at the top. >> they will not be judged on these last two weeks. >> oh, yes, they will. >> they will be judged on the next four years. we will have a midterm e legsle in two years. had they held up to the republican values and republican policies that these folks were

elected and sent to office to uphold. they have done that. they will hold the biden administration accountable. i don't think you will see a blood letting because of 14 days. >> we'll see what happens. there is a long time between now and then. you want to talk about republican values, you better start character accounts. they showed a failure in character. nobody in elected office has said anything you said on this show tonight about the president doing the wrong thing. frankly, you are still talking about the legal team. >> we saw leaders in the party this weekend. chris cristie said the right things. >> they say the legal team has got to stop. the issues. you know this was about trump and that trump did the wrong thing. yes or no. >> look, this -- >> yes or no? >> this trump campaign, this campaign if donald trump is the president of the united states, he was the man on the ballot, he has a legal team. that legal team went into court

and they lost. >> he's still saying things happened that we don't know. he knows didn't. did he do the wrong thing pushing baseless claims, yes or no? >> there were baseless claims and they shouldn't have been brought. >> by trump? >> they became dangerously close. >> by trump. >> look, his campaign team are the folks that were bringing those claims. >> he did it. >> i have to say he is not being well served by his legal team and they need to speak truth to power and tell him these cases are losers. >> they have to tell him he is lying. jimmy, you did something i haven't heard anything else do. and i appreciate it. you were welcome before. you're welcome after. we'll be right back. when panera's chef claes makes a pizza, he doesn't just make a pizza. he uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. panera.

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okay. despite all of the cdc's warnings about holiday travel, this past weekend alone saw more than three million of us passing through airport security check points, the highest since this pandemic began. even as covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths have hit all new highs this month. in fact, the seven day average for new covid infections is now 170,000 a day. i'm speaking slowly so you can watch it there on the screen. what's going to happen because of the traveling that's going on now and how will this kind of snowball into the rest of the holidays? dr. wen is here to discuss. doc, thanks for being with me. >> of course. good to join you. >> three million hitting the airports to go home for thanksgiving, what will that translate into in terms of potential cases, hospitalizations and worse? and let's talk about why. the travel, it is not about

transit. it is about where you arrive at in those small groupings, right? >> that's right. i'm less concerned about the travel itself. although, there is some risk associated with the travel. but i'm concerned about what people are doing after they travel. certainly people are traveling to see loved ones and then they will be gathering indoors without wearing masks, gathered for long periods of time and people are coming from coronavirus hot spots all over the country because the entire u.s. is a coronavirus hot spot. and, so, we know how from the cdc that nearly 60% of the transmission is by people who don't have symptoms. and, so, someone you know and love, of course, they don't mean to but they could very well infect you at thanksgiving dinner. so i would just urge for everyone, if you have not left yet on a trip, please cancel your nonessential travel at this time. and if you are staying put, then please only feed people outdoors. don't gather indoors. it is just not worth it and we

will see much higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths in the weeks to come. >> okay. so there are two levels of pushback, all right? you take them each as you wish. one is no. this has been too long. life is too short. i have been boxed up. i miss my loved ones. i can do it safe and you guys grossly exaggerate how much people will get sick. when they get sick, they're okay. long haul is so real and we're all ignoring it and no one ever really seems to die. and the second thing is the pushback of you don't really know how many people will get sick from less traveling. it seems like this runs its course and the vaccines coming. deal with those pushbacks. >> actually, i think we should start with the vaccine is coming. that's important because we know there is light at the end of the tunnel. we have three vaccines that look like they could be available to us by early 2021. we could very well be

celebrating thanksgiving in july safely. so this is not about us being isolated for forever. i actually think it would be so tragic if people died right now if we see there is hope on the horizon and people are dying by the thousands every single day. that's the tragedy of it, especially because that's preventable. to the point about how dangerous this is, this is a very contagious disease. this virus doesn't care if we haven't seen our loved ones for a long time. it doesn't feel we're scared and want to be with one another. it will affect people. we're seeing hospitals way over capacity, health care workers out sick and therefore unable to staff these icus. we need to flatten the curve once again. i know we got to where we are because of failure of federal leadership. at this point it is up to each of us to make the right decisions to protect ourselves and to stop the spread in our communities. >> we know we need to get to 70% of americans being vaccinated

according to operation warp speed to reach herd immunity. you are only about 55% to maybe 60% of americans who say they will get vaccinated. what does that mean? >> it means that we need to rapidly build trust because a vaccine to work needs to be safe, effective and trusted and we need to enlist people in the communities themselves because trust can't be built overnight. trust is eroded very easily and we need to be working on that now, including through very quickly funding our local health departments that are already struggling so much with resources. >> you had a baby. you still put this information out as a priority for people all throughout. you have done it on all the shows. you have certainly gone out of your way to do it on mine here and on radio. i am thank you for you in my life. thank you for giving people the right information. you can't make them believe it, but you can tell them the right information consistently and you do that and thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> all right. now, the flip side of it, i don't know if you have been

watching this show, but if you do, you know i have a problem with what we're doing in schools. now there is a new wrinkle, okay? what is our assumption? why are they busting our chops about schools when the kids don't get that sick. we're afraid of the teachers, the staff, the families, but it doesn't seem to be happening. maybe it is because they don't test the right way or they don't tell us the truth. maybe we don't have all the facts. maybe even worse, it's not that we don't have all the facts, we have been believing the wrong reality about our schools. i do not like that suggestion, but we must pursue it, and i have somebody who is putting all the numbers she can find together. this is what she does. she is here to present the data about the reality of what's happening in our classrooms next. an in a whole new way.

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about the covid-19 virus. it's real. and it's dangerous. so, on behalf of all of us working on the front lines, please take it seriously. and while we don't yet have a cure or a vaccine, we do know how to keep you and your loved ones safe. wear a mask. wash your hands.

stay six feet apart. do your best to stay out of crowded spaces. and get a flu shot, it's even more important this year. we can do this. if we do it together. full disclosure, i do not like what i'm about to hear. but we've got to be open and we

have to deal with data where we find it. i want to bring in former data scientist for the florida department of health who co-founded the covid monitor. rebecca jones, thank you very much for joining me on prime time. happy thanksgiving to you and the family. so the supposition is why do we keep closing down schools when the rate is where it is. new york city they just hit the 3% but the schools are only 0.17%. why shut down our schools? you are saying i have my facts wrong. >> part of the reason of shutting down a school or school system is to prevent the case rate from getting higher. if you allow the race rate to become high, then you have acted too late. that is a preventive measure. i stand with the new york city school system for doing that. >> but our belief is things don't get as sick and things are better in school. so why not just shut down all the other places. you say you found data that

suggests that i'm not right or i'm not being told the right things about what's happening in schools. is that true? how did you assess the data? where did you get the data? and what is your conclusion? >> so we actually at the covid monitor have been tracking cases in k through 12 schools since july. and we have assembled a massive data set of every state in the country and we have logged more than 200,000 cases in k through 12 schools since they started reopening this fall. that's a lot of cases and that's for only about 5,000 school districts in the country in the 24 states that are reporting mostly. and obviously the rates vary between school level, high school kids or twice as likely to get it as elementary school kids. the mask policies, community transmission rates and the percent of students that are enrolled face to face all make a huge impact on school transition. it is also important to remember students aren't the only ones

going to schools. their parents are, their teachers. they all interact with the school environment. when you go to school, the virus goes with you and it comes home with you. and they are not these inoculated centers or silo places. they're community-based organizations where lots of people congregate for long periods of time. we looked at this week the 4,000 or so districts that are reporting both enrollment data and case data. less than 3% of all the districts in the country were in the lowest risk zone based on cdc guidance. >> what does that mean? >> cdc basically has a scale >> cdc has a scale one to five of how relatively safe it is to open schools. one being the safest, five being the least safe, the red zone.

>> do you have an assessment -- go ahead. 2/3 were what? the higher or the highest of the four or five red zone, two were in that zone but they're open right now. that's the case rate in the school, in the actual school. >> what does your analysis suggest in terms of what we should be doing differently/better with our kids in schools. just to you know, rebecca's not just coming at this as a colin igs. she's got kids, also. she understands all the trav ailes we're going through. but what could we be doing better with our schools? >> part of the problem that we've been encountering with this, at least in the united states, is that there hasn't been a lot of research. most people say, oh, it's totally fine, it's safe, have

limited data from here in the u.s. schools are an extremely high risk area if you don't take these measures. a lot of people apply this, not realizing that most states in the country are not doing it right. anyway does not have a statewide mask mandate. half of the school districts in this state don't require masks on campus. their case rate for students is twice that of those districts that do require masks. these are immediate policy decisions that should have been made and can be made to reduce that risk. >> the bad news is -- >> you have to think about it differently. because 70% of people in the school is students. >> we got focus on the kids even though we do care about the staff and the teachers, obviously. >> yes. >> the bad news is, we have it

wrong. it's worse in schools than we think. the good news is if we just did the right things that we know to do the right way, we could get to where we need to be and we have a right to explain. rebecca jones, i know you're going to stay an this. i'll stay in contact with you to further our understanding. the best to you at the covid monitor. have a good thanksgiving. >> you, too. >> i got a gift for you. there's a video going around, that is true, that is such -- it's not just amer can. if i can trade places and be somewhere else, you are about the meet him right now. did you see the video of the guy who showed the puppy from the alligator. i want you to meet this guy. i want to tell you how this happened and i want to tell you that you're about to talk to a

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we keep talking about people doing the wrong thing. watch somebody do the right thing. 74-year-old richard wilbanks -- show the video -- jumps into a popped when he watches his publicy get snatched by an alligator. ok. he goes under the water, grabs the alligator, pries the jaws open and saves his pup gunnar. here's why i fell in love with him and had to have him on the show. he never lost his cigar. richard wilbanks joins me right now.

how's gunner doing? >> oh, he's doing fantastic, chris. he is just a wonderful little king charles cavalier puppy that's just playful and loving and just sleepy right now. >> so good for him and boy, what an owner. let me ask you something. see the gator snatch the puppy. happens all the time where you live. did you even -- did you even hesitate before saying i'm going into the water to get that thing back? >> no. i just -- it was just reaction. when the alligator grabbed gunnar and was swimming off in the pond with him i just jumped right in and was hoping i could get hold of the alligator and finally did and got him up to the bank and wrestled his mouth open and got this little beautiful little dog out. >> did he bite you?

>> did he bite you? >> yes. the alligator bit me. i had some wounds on my hands. i got a tetanus shot and came home and put some super gloou in some cuts and put emback together. >> who is filming you? who is videoing this happen? >> the federation. >> we work in conjunction with the wild life federation here. we're fortunate in south plae the to have just a tremendous amount of wild life and they set up cameras to film the wild life and show how -- >> oh. >> how -- >> this was just -- they were just filming the area of the pond and you just happened to be in it? >> yes. yes. you know. we didn't even know it was on film until about three weeks after the event when they called and told us, said, you won't

believe what we've got on our cameras here. >> nobody can believe it. i can't tell you how many people have contacted me about this and said it's got to be fake. what did your family say to you when they heard? >> oh, it's just been -- you know, it's been fantastic. we've had so many well wishers call and, you know, with concern about gunnar and concern about myself and wanting to make sure that we were all ok and it just turned out to be a real feel-good story. >> well, you are the real deal. usually i don't see guys with shirts with no sleeves on but you should have whatever you want. you are a man's man and you are a woman's woman. you did everything that a human being could do right in a wrong situation and i respect you and appreciate you. i'm going to find out