hello. i'm boris sanchez. i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. it is a thanksgiving day unlike any other. americans this year expressing gratitude for what they have, while many are hungry, struggling and grieving those missing from their tables. another 2,297 people died from coronavirus. hospitalizations nationwide breaking records for the 16th day in a row as medical experts warn this thanksgiving surge

could turn into a christmas nightmare. in fact, the cdc is projecting major devastation before christmas day. its new forecast calculating as many as 321,000 deaths by december 19th. that's another 60,000 americans dead in less than a month. millions are defying cdc guidance to stay home this week. for three weeks now, the country has reported 100,000 plus new infections every day. and that number, according to a new cdc model, is likely an undercount. it estimates that only 13% of covid cases were recorded from february through september. that's one of every eight cases. while the u.s. officially counts 7 million cases during that time, they now believe the real number is close to 53 million.

as coronavirus rages on this thanksgiving, a day typically devoted to family and food, millions are going hungry. the ceo of feeding america lamenting many visiting food banks this year were once sol untires themselves. >> one of the things we noticed quickly was that the people turning to us for help we didn't recognize them. about 40% of the people who right now are turning to food banks for help around the country are people who never before relied upon the charitable food system. what was really shocking was how often sometimes we did recognize them because they used to be volunteers in the food bank and they found themselves in need of our services when they used to be the ones helping their neighbors. >> despite the warnings, millions have decided to take the risk of traveling during the pandemic to spend thanksgiving with their families. yet the one person who could have driven the point home better than anyone else, the

president, directly contradicted warnings about coronavirus. at the end of his holiday proclamation, there was this line. i encourage all americans to gather in homes and places of worship to offer a prayer of thanks to god for our many blessings. cnn correspondent rosa flores is in miami. if anyone doubts the gravity of this crisis, they can look at the situation in hospitals in miami-dade county. coincidentally my mom works at a hospital in miami-dade county and she said the situation is grave now and it's likely going to get worse and the public doesn't seem to recognize it. >> reporter: you know, you're absolutely right. we're seeing this here in miami and in hospitals around the country. and look, boris, you and i know this, medical experts have been warning that this was going to happen, and it has. we are seeing that the number of cases in the united states is surging. just yesterday more than 101,000 cases were reported. and now hospitalizations around

the country are nearing 90,000. and when it comes to the death toll, the daily death toll continues to increase. just yesterday, nearly 2,300 americans died. now some states are taking measures. for example, some of them are rolling back some of the reopening plans. that's the case in louisiana. others are tightening their mask rules, that's the case in north carolina. we are seeing that hospitals are getting tested. we're hearing from officials in rhode island and also in washington state and right here in the state of florida, where i am in miami-dade, according to data released by the county, the number of hospitalizations of covid-19 patients in the past two weeks has increased by 25%. the number of icus is up 43%. and the number of ventilators up 44%. now, boris, you're from here and

you can appreciate this. i've been talking to the city of miami mayor and also miami beach's mayor, they've been trying to get the attention of governor ron desantis because they say they need his help. if you remember back in late september, governor ron desantis in one swoop reopened the state but the other thing he did in the fine print, he crippled local authorities as to what they can do. he removed, he stripped them from the power they had to impose more restrictions. and they point to one thing specifically. they can't fine mask violators. boris, that was one of the things that local authorities had said was actually working. it was stopping the spread of the virus, now they don't have the power to do that. and they're asking the governor to step in and help them out. >> it's a shame, rosa, that politics has come before protecting lives. hope you have a happy thanksgiving. thanks so much, rosa flores from

miami. from florida to texas now where the state hit an all-time record high for cases. health officials reported more than 14,000 infections just yesterday as the state struggles to stop the spread. two counties announced curfews beginning tonight. ed lavandera is there. give us details on the new curfews. >> reporter: the curfews are in bear county and el paso county, which has been the focus of so much attention the last few weeks that it's been a dangerous hot spot in the state. but essentially the curfew is telling people to stay at home, everything is shutting down between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. through this thanksgiving weekend until monday morning. county officials and city officials in san antonio say that it was the last two holiday weekends that contributed in large part to the surges that they had seen in those areas after two holiday weekends and they're trying to minimize that going into this thanksgiving

holiday weekend. and this comes as, overall here in the state of texas, boris, the surge that we're seeing right now far surpasses what we saw in the initial surge of the coronavirus pandemic back in july and early august. more than 14,000 new cases as you mentioned, reported yesterday. texas has now more than 1.2 million cases. it leads the country in the number of coronavirus cases. and it has the second highest death total as well in this state. so despite all of this, boris, the governor here in texas, greg abbott, said there are no plans to shutdown the economy. still urging people to wear masks and do the individual things that you have to do to protect yourselves. so obviously, urging people to not gather in large groups this thanksgiving weekend. but this comes as there is a great deal of stress on the medical system in various parts of this state and these numbers continue to increase in the

surge we're seeing here headed into december. boris? >> a situation to keep an eye on and we know you'll watch it for us. thanks so much. i'm joined by an emergency medicine physician and assistant professor at baylor college of medicine. thank you for spending part of your thanksgiving with us. i have to ask about the new cdc study that estimates one in eight coronavirus cases may have actually been counted so far in the united states. meaning that we vastly undercounted cases. what do you make of the study and what concerns does that raise for you? >> that's definitely believable, boris. what we know is that some of those who are affected with covid-19 are completely asymptomatic. if you don't have symptoms, nothing is going to prompt you to get tested. so we're not capturing those numbers. there are also others who have been exposed to the virus in one way or another, but they may only have mild symptoms. if they don't know they're

exposed that also wouldn't prompt them to get tested. that's why it's likely we're undercounting the numbers we're seeing in the united states. >> a critic might look at the number and say that would get us to herd immunity. would it? >> not necessarily. in order for us to achieve herd immunity, typically we would think about 70% of the population needs to be immune to a certain disease in order for us to reach that point, 50% if we're being very, very conservative. now, in the united states, we have about 320 million americans. so we're looking at at least 160 million people that either needed to be vaccinated to this disease or have been exposed to the disease to achieve herd immunity. and we're nowhere close to there. >> we are currently at 16 straight days of record hospitalizations. that's the single day death toll topping 2,000. rate of new infections soaring.

there's speculation about another shutdown, lockdown looming. at what point do you think that becomes unavoidable? >> boris, you know that's a complicated question with a complicated answer. i do understand the precarious position that government officials are in trying to make sure they protect the health and the safety of their squin constituents. but making sure people can maintain their livelihoods and we're not facing another economic collapse. that being said, the only way to 100% prevent the spread of covid-19 is to make sure people are not intermingling with people that are not in their households. neither hand washing, masks, attempting to say 6 feet apart is not effective. i'm a physician, i'm never going to put dollars over deaths over 262,000 americans have died. almost 20% of the patients in hospitals now are in the icu.

and in the icu one in three people are on a ventilator. this disease is deadly for those who are young, old, healthy and those with other medical problems. if we don't get more vigilant with our restrictions in the united states we're not going to put a dent in the numbers before a vaccine becomes available. >> there has been good news, though, about the progress toward a vaccine. pfizer, moderna, astrazeneca all reporting that their vaccine trials show really good efficacy, no major side events. the question then becomes how do you distribute it effectively and efficiently. i'm curious, are americans going to be able to choose between these vaccines? how would that work? >> the vaccine news that's come out in the last couple of weeks i think is the glimmer of hope we've been waiting for, the light at the end of the tunnel. but i don't think people are going to be able to choose between the three vaccines. astrazeneca is the company that

released their data the most recently and their numbers are not as good as moderna and pfizer. across all participants it looks like the astrazeneca vaccine is only 70% effective and they only finished their trials in the uk and have not finished their phase three trials in the united states. the moderna vaccine although it's said it's 94.5% effective they have not yet applied for fda approval. they're trying to gather more safety data this month before submitting the application. pfizer is leading the race with a vaccine they're saying is about 95% effective, which is remarkable. they submitted their application for emergency youth and there's a hearing on december 10th. so it's likely pfizer is going to be the first vaccine that's available. >> a moment that can't get here quickly enough. doctor, thank you for the time. we appreciate it.

happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving, thank you for having me. new york governor, andrew cuomo responding to the supreme court ruling on his restrictions. and many are plotting on how to impress the president with money and donations, potentially angling to get similar treatment of michael flynn. and what joe biden faces as he inherits the president's secret server with information inside of it. this is cnn's special coverage, stay with us. that was my business gi, this one's casual. get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. new aveeno® restorative skin therapy. with our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skin's resilience. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature™.

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we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. welcome back. president-elect joe biden and his wife, jill, are sharing a heart felt thanksgiving message with the country. in a new op-ed on cnn.com they

thanked the american people for their sacrifices during the pandemic. they write quote like millions of americans we're letting go of the traditions we can't do safely. it's not a small sacrifice. these moments with our loved ones, time that's lost, can't be returned yet we know it's the price of protecting each other and one we do not pay alone. isolated in our own dining rooms and kichens scattered coast to coast we're healing together. they're taking a moment to recognize those who lost lives to the coronavirus. this message coming as the president-elect prepares to take office and as questions emerge abili about how he will handle access to sensitive information such as transcripts of presidential calls to foreign leaders. vivian is covering that story for us. you have new reporting on how the biden administration might be handling the sensitive data. tell us what you learned.

>> boris, happy thanksgiving. i want to remind viewers about the secret server that came up in the initial whistle-blower complaint that included allegations that the president was staying stuff he shouldn't have said to the ukrainian president last year. so that secret server continued to be used at the national security council to store sensitive information, the stuff the trump administration deemed sensitive. transcripts with leaders like saudi arabia, and the russian president, vladimir putin. so a lot of these things were on lockdown and that's what the whistle-blower complaint alleged, things were on lockdown and people who needed to see it weren't going to see it. so now, president-elect, joe biden on january 20th, when he becomes president, he inherits

that secret server he can ultimately do what he wants with it. the biden team said that they want to urge transparency and want government officials to be able to access the things they need to access. but whether or not they reverse that policy right away remains to be seen. things have changed in in the four years since a lot of these people were in office. they might take some time, according to officials i spoke with, to assess the security situation. in the meantime, when the transition teams are talking, officials tell me the biden team is on a need to know basis. they're going to cover things that are essential in their ability to govern from day one, but things discussed with the foreign leaders may not be deemed a priority. >> mark meadows making clear in a memo to staff that he does not want anyone at the white house who doesn't have approval talking to anybody on the biden transition team. makes you wonder why.

vivian, happy thanksgiving, thank you for the reporting. in the wake of president trump pardoning his former national security advisor michael flynn, those around him are asking who's next. this news wiping away flynn's guilty plea for lying to the fbi during the russia investigation. trump is expected to issue a series of pardons in the next two months. "the new york times" is saying that pardon seekers are highlighting their donations and time spent at trump properties. all this in order to win him over. joining me now a former fbi special agent and a lecturer at yale university. thank you for taking part of your thanksgiving to be with us asha. safe to say trump will issue more pardons on his way out the door, especially for those connected to the russia investigation, right? >> i think we can definitely expect to see that. now it's not unusual, at the end

of a presidential term, to see a lot of pardons what is unusual here is the sheer number of pardons that he's already issued and will likely issue to people who are connected to him, or have some kind of relationship with him in some way. particularly, as you mentioned with the russia investigation, which may involve pardoning people who could have incriminating evidence on him. so this is where we start to get into, you know, the outer limits of the pardon power. which is generally unfettered but where there may be a self-dealing aspect to some of trump's pardons. >> i'm curious to get your reaction to that reporting in the times that pardon seekers are trying to use their connections and donations and spending at trump properties to try to win favor with the president. that seems highly unethical. >> it is highly unethical.

this is a very transactional approach to an immense and awesome power of the presidency. normally, boris, requests for a pardon will go through the pardon attorney. there will be, you know, a formal channel where these are looked at and approved, and pardons can be controversial. again, i think what's happening here is that there is an effort to element implicitly create, you know, a quid pro koe. here's what i've done for you, the money i've spent on your properties, in exchange for something that the president can offer them. >> as if we haven't gotten enough no quid pro quo tweets already. >> exactly. >> i've been thinking about the trump era, and one thing historians will know him for is testing the boundaries of the presidency consistently. there's a lot of talk he may try

to pardon himself. i'm not sure that's what the framers had in mind but he retweeted a message from florida congressman matt gates that encouraged him to do that. from your perspective, how can you pardon yourself if you haven't been charged with anything yet, why would he need to pardon himself, and then is it legal, could he actually do it? >> you're asking two separate questions. you can pardon pre-charged conduct. ford issued nixon an unconditional pardon for offenses that hadn't been charged yet. going back to 1868, president andrew johnson pardoned soldiers who fought for the confederacy for treason before any of them had been charged. so the pre-charged conduct is likely okay. it's the self-pardoning which becomes problematic and most legal scholars agree a president can't pardon himself apart from

potentially conflicting with other parts of the constitution, namely his duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, the ability for the president to pardon himself would make him above the law. he could spend his presidency committing crimes and then pardon himself out the door. so this would be a really risky move for the president, in my opinion, if he were to pardon himself, i think that it would be incumbent on a future department of justice to try to challenge that, because you don't want that to be the precedent. or at least you want the supreme court to clarify the bounds of this. and if it were determined that a self-pardon were not valid, then the president would be exposed to potential legal liability. so i think this could be a risky move. he might be better off resigning and then allowing -- >> mike pence. >> -- mike pence to pardon him. that would probably be a more airtight pardon if he's looking

for security going out the door. >> another legacy of the trump presidency has to be drama. drama all the way to the end. asha, thank you for the time. i hope you have a happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving. >> thanks. a republican governor calling out one of his colleagues, as she continues to shun masks in the middle of a deadly surge. plus the supreme court ruling against new york's covid restrictions on religious institutions and the newest justice was the deciding vote. also, disney laying off 32,000 workers as the pandemic gets worse and food bank lines get longer.

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west virginia's republican governor is defending his mask mandate while blasting a fellow republican for not doing more to stop the spread of the coronavirus. he's calling out south dakota's governor, listen to this. >> as i told you repeatedly, over and over and over, we have to get to the vaccine. so if you're inconvenienced,

don't believe you in it, please wear it. what's the down side? many people were calling and saying to me over and over and over, we want to be like south dakota. we want to be south dakota. well, i don't want to be south dakota. i don't know how in the world that we could have any desire whatsoever to be south dakota. where they have led the entire world -- >> governor justice went on to play a news clip highlighting south dakota's alarming statistics, including the state has the highest seven day positivity rate in the country at times above 60%. that means that more than half of all south dakota residents getting tested turn out positive. the spread is so aggressive there, one in 12 people have had the virus in south dakota at some point. also this morning, andrew

cuomo is reacting to a supreme court ruling that blocks him from putting a number of people on houses of worship. >> why rule on a case that is moot, and come up with a different decision than you did several months ago on the same issue. you have a different court. and i think that was the statement that the court was making. >> the supreme court's decision was made in a 5-4 split with the newest justice, amy coney barrett, casting the deciding vote. joining me now, cnn's supreme court analyst, joan discuebic. thank you for joining me. the court did rule on this a few months ago with justice ruth

bader ginsburg casting the deciding vote. meaning this is a result of havi having amy coney barrett on the court. >> when the court took up these issues from california and nevada before the death of justice ruth bader ginsburg they deferred to state officials and acknowledged there were concerns over the exercise of religion but realized there was an overriding health concern that officials were trying to grapple with. in this case if ruth bader ginsburg were still on, she would also thought should we weigh in with the governor saying these restrictions are in flux. the churches and synagogues that have appealed to the supreme court might not be covered by the restrictions, but it clearly is now a court controlled by a five-justice majority without chief justice john roberts, which is a very new development

for the court. five justices on the far right saying no, the overriding free exercise concerns are what's important here and we're not going to defer to local officials and it's time to stop what the majority believes is a nationwide trend against religious services. >> now, joan, i want to get your take on justice neil gur such's concurring opinion. it may be unsafe to go to church but it is fine to pick up a bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. he's not holding back there. >> he's not and you could have picked several mocking lines from that multi-page concurrence there. in fact, when i was reading it

this morning, i was like, wow. he said, you know, the constitution doesn't take a holiday. why are local officials doing this? and two things, boris, not only did he come out strongly saying that local officials are trying to impinge free exercise rights, he took out, after his colleagues. enough so that chief justice roberts in his dissenting opinion said i do not agree that the dissenters in this case are trying to cut loose the constitution at the time of covid. ch chastising neil gorsuch for his done there. >> we were talking about the legacy of donald trump as he gets closer to leaving office and perhaps this is the most consequential, his impact on the supreme court. joan, thank you for your time. enjoy the rest of your holiday. >> thank you, you too. democratic officials are apologizing or reversing course after they break their own covid

rules. as 260,000 americans die, a republican senator said the media coverage of covid is too negative. we'll discuss. and millions of americans going hungry as the pandemic worsens across the country. we'll go live to a food bank. experience helps you navigate what comes next. at university of phoenix, relevant life experience and eligible transfer credits can help you earn your degree faster and for less. see how much you can save at phoenix.edu.

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rattled by the pandemic, disney is planning massive layoffs. 32,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs by the end of march as the pandemic hammers disney's parks and resorts. that's about 4,000 more jobs than the company had announced it was planning to cut next year. disney is warning that future cuts in tv and film production could also come and that more employees could be furloughed or terminated. a lot of uncertainty, a lot of need. and that's especially evident on a day like today. there's a hunger crisis on this thanksgiving, one that by the end of the year could leave more than 50 million americans without reliable access to food. many families finding themselves in a situation they could never have imagined, like turning to food banks for meals. ryan young is joining us from a

food distribution site in atlanta. these meals are becoming a lifeline for many, especially now during the holidays. give us a sense of what you're seeing there today. >> reporter: this is tough, boris, because you think about it, we're focussed on today because its's thanksgiving. but people who have been living this, going through this the entire pandemic, a lot of folks have lost their job back in march i talked to one person who hadn't been able to find work, they needed this meal today because they had nowhere to go and they've been living in their car. you see the boxes lined up right here. this is able to put the boxes from here into the back of people's cars and to give them the food. this center usually would be food -- this is feed the hungry, they've been doing it for 50 years. they would normally do hair cuts, washes, hand out clothes but this year the effort is quite different. you can see the assembly line they've created here because

even down this way they have services for the homeless where they can come in and good food, a lot of temperature checks going on. they're worried about the pandemic but they're worried about making sure the first responders are taken care of and taking care of our veterans. we talked to one veteran today who said he needed this because it's been a rough few months. take a listen. >> i'm just truly grateful there is still people and organizations that are helping when you need help. try to survive, i work day labor jobs, make a little money, and when i need help i go to these events. >> real quick, boris, somebody compared this to katrina, they've never seen an effort this sustained in this city of people needing food. talking to one volunteer, several mothers who showed up here with their kids in the car and planned to eat their thanksgiving dinner in the car.

that is a tough fact to hear, especially with so much going on. and people worried about social distancing and 1covid-19. it's tough to say happy thanksgiving when you know so many people are struggling the way so many folks are. >> i'm so glad you said that. if you are watching and have a lot of to be thankful for, and gifted with abundance, it's important to think about those who need it most. ryan young reporting from atlanta, thank you so much. it's a story we've seen play out several times over the course of the pandemic. several state and local leaders forced to apologize for flouting their own strict coronavirus restrictions this thanksgiving holiday. plus, thanksgiving means turkey and football, but the nfl and some ncaa conferences forced to cancel or reschedule games amid a rise in covid cases. we have details aheads. trings of lights. (betsy) quarter mile of tinsel. (harold) and real snow all the way from switzerland.

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do as i say, not as i do. that seems to be the message from a series of top democratic officials on this holiday, forced to apologize or reverse course after being called out, caught, not practicing the social distancing measures they have been preaching. first up, mayor of denver, michael hancock. he enthusiastically encouraged the city to stay home, tweeting guidance like this. quote. stay home, stay in touch with friends, family by phone or online. shortly after sending the tweet, the mayor's office confirmed hancock himself flew to mississippi to spend the holiday

with his wife and daughter. hancock later released a statement asking denver residents for forgiveness. quote, i apologize to the residents of denver who see my decision as conflicting with guidance to stay at home for all but essential travel. i made my decision as a husband and father. for those that are angry and disappointed, i humbly ask you to forgive decisions borne of my heart, not my head. unfortunately, mayor hancock is not alone. take new york governor cuomo, he told a local radio host his thanksgiving would include his 89-year-old mother. >> my mom is going to come up and two of my girls is the current plan. but the plans change. >> and in the same interview, cuomo told new yorkers this can't be a typical thanksgiving, that you should not have friends and family gathering.

>> try to say to people now, you know, you watch these commercials on tv, and they're selling commercial thanksgiving, right? 20 people around the table, pass me the wine, pass me this, that's not happening. that can't happen. it can't happen. >> backlash was quick and so was the reversal. an adviser to the governor telling cnn the next day the plans had changed and the governor would be working on the holiday. that now brings us to california governor gavin newsom. he has repeatedly warned californians to keep social gatherings small. california state health guidelines prohibit people from more than three households getting together. when reports surfaced the governor and his wife attended a birthday party at french laundry, exclusive napa valley restaurant, earlier this month, joined by at least a dozen other people from different households, the backlash was

immediate and an apology quickly followed. >> the spirit of what i'm preaching all the time was contradicted and i got to own that, so i want to apologize to you because i need to preach and practice, not just preach. >> yeah, exactly. joining me now to discuss, cnn political reporter rebecca buck. it is not just democrats that have been caught in the situation, the white house chief of staff, mark meadows, good example. hosted his daughter's wedding this spring relatively large gathering in clear violation of caps on social get togethers. these officials know the spotlight is on them, they know they're going to be scrutinized for just about every action they take. how does this still happen? >> that's a great question. how does it keep happening. i don't have a good answer to that. i do know obviously the optics are bad from a political perspective. it looks bad. even more important than that, it is a public health issue

because when you're a public official trying to deal with a crisis on this scale, on the scale of a pandemic, the most important tool you have in the tool belt is going to be your credibility with the public, your ability to speak and have people listen to you and take seriously what you say. and every time a public official goes out and does something like this, flouting their own rules and regulations and suggestions for the public, they chip away at their credibility. next time they say i need you to do this and stay home, people will say why, you haven't been doing the same thing. you can't have two sets of rules, you following one set and us following another, and at the same time this has become such a political issue, something that should have been a cut and dry public health issue, but when public officials do these sorts of things, act by a different set of rules, they feed into

some of the critics who have said well, why are we making these sacrifices, we're going overboard, they sort of confirm critics when they do these things. >> it hurts their credibility and hurts the general public as well. rebecca, happy thanksgiving. thanks for sharing with us. >> thanks. some liberal backlash against one of joe biden's potential cabinet picks, including the cia director, we chat about that. speaking of secrets, what will biden find in the president's secret server, and what is he going to do with that sensitive information. plus, new study reveals whether any of the thousands of different covid mutations could transmit the virus any easier. don't go anywhere. we'll be back after a quick break. ther this flu season by getting vaccinated. if you're 65 or older, get the superior flu protection of fluzone high-dose quadrivalent. it's the only 65+ flu vaccine

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hello. i am boris sanchez. i want to welcome viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is a thanksgiving unlike any other. americans this year are expressing gratitude for what they have while many are hungry, struggling and grieving for those missing from their table. another 2297 people have died from coronavirus. the deadliest day reported since may. hospitalizations nationwide breaking records for the 16th day in a row, as medical experts warn