hello to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i am dana bash in washington. a familiar sad truth this hour, the virus is winning. new tough numbers across the board, deaths, hospitalizations, jobs lost, numbers that represent people, people who are suffering. the pace of american hiring slowed in november, only 245,000 jobs added. the recovery is on pause and may soon rewind to spring when millions of americans were out of work in a snap. health numbers also tell a

frightening story of a nation unable and lame duck leader seemingly uninterested in slowing the spread. 217,000 new cases just shy of 2900 deaths, 100,000. dr. anthony fauci warns the u.s. hasn't hit the post thanksgiving peak and that christmas could deepen the hospital crisis already playing out across the country. new data shows the virus is killing more americans than anything else this week, new projections show the scale of american loss may double by april 1st, 539,000 americans. that's how many of us scientists say are expected to die by spring. in an exclusive cnn interview, the president-elect issued a new coronavirus challenge to americans, wear a mask for his first 100 days in office.

one experts projects a nationwide buy in could save 66,000 lives. 66,000 of our parents, spouses, siblings, children we wouldn't have to mourn if that happens. fauci says the president-elect is on the right path. >> he is saying hey, folks, trust me. everybody for 100 days. now, it might be after that we still are going to need it, he just wants everybody for a commitment for 100 days. i discussed that with him. i told him i thought it was a good idea. >> fauci today also said he will have a new job soon as the president-elect's chief medical adviser. let's not forget, there is good news out there. covid vaccines are on the way, expected to get fda authorization in the coming weeks. when it is available to you is a difficult and complicated question. should you take it? that's an easy one. asked last night if they would lead by example, the incoming president and vice president

said yes. >> are you confident that if and when the fda does give that approval, it will be safe and effective and will you take it? >> of course i will. >> do you plan to get vaccinated before inauguration day, will you do it in public the way presidents obama, bush, clinton suggested they would? >> i would be happy to, once it is declared to be safe. i think barack said, once fauci says, that's my measure. obviously take it. it is important to communicate to the american people it is safe, safe to do this. >> let's get to cnn's kristin holmes. states face a deadline of today to submit where the first rounds of vaccines are going where they are. do we have any idea how many states have plans in place versus those that do not? >> reporter: when it comes to where the first round of vaccines are going, most states are pretty set. it goes to essential health care

workers, they determined who is the most essential. when it comes to overall plan how the vaccine rolls out, there are still so many questions, and most states we talked to haven't finalized any sort of plan here. the important thing to note is this is completely changeable. everything is in flux. they say they're not getting the information they need from the federal government. start with what we know. we have dates for the first phase of vaccine, december 10th. fda advisers meet about pfizer vaccine, december 15th is when first shipments of the fascinating will be delivered. december 17, they have the same meeting, but about moderna vaccine. on december 22nd, first shipments of moderna vaccine go out. here is what is very important to note. we have talked to state after state who said the amount of vaccine doses they're getting in the first round is not enough to even cover all of their health care workers.

in some states, even all their essential health care workers, meaning they have to rank those health care workers. that should give you an idea how long this is going to take before it gets to the american public. we also have teachers that some people are prioritizing as well as those in long-term care facilities. important thing to note here is that we do not know when the general public will have access to it, as for the december 15th date, people can't just show up that date at the pharmacy and expect to have that vaccine. >> important information and reporting. thank you so much for that. joining me now, cnn medical analyst and professor of surgery and medicine at george washington university, dr. jonath jonathan reinhart. let's start with what the president told jake tapper, there's a mask challenge to the country. let's watch. >> i think my information, jake, is in the first day inaugurated to say i'm going to ask the public for 100 days to mask.

just 100 days to mask. not forever. 100 days. i think we'll see significant reduction if we do that, and if that occurs with vaccinations and masking to drive down numbers considerably, considerably. >> dr. reinhart, he is going to ask, not mandate. is that enough? >> that's probably all he really can do on the federal level, but it is a giant move forward. we've never really had that kind of consistent, clear, unambiguous ask from the president of the united states, asking all americans to wear a mask. it makes me sad to think about how different our situation might have been if at the end of march the outgoing president said exactly that. all americans unambiguously should mask up. >> bully pulpit basic, seems that way to me as well. so the ihme has new projections

that say quick vaccine rollout alone would save 11,000 lives, if you target high risk groups, that goes up to 14,000 lives, but if you can get 95% of the population to wear a mask, combined with vaccine rollout, would save 66,000 lives by april 1st. can you help dissect this, explain this, help us understand? is that meaning the vaccine won't be available to enough people by april 1st and that's why masks are still important or is it something else about the efficacy the masks versus the vaccine? >> well, it is sort of both. we're very fortunate that both these initial vaccines are extraordinarily effective, 95% effective in preventing illness. the moderna vaccine appears to be 100% effective in the initial trial in preventing severe illness, which is really the name of the game.

the problem is we're going to have limited amount of doses for the next couple of months. so in december, for instance, i think they're going to distribute maybe 6.5 million doses of the pfizer vaccine and if the moderna vaccine follows on a week after that, we will have another several million more. that's just a fraction. remember, we need two doses per person. it will take quite awhile to vaccinate significant parts of the country. and we need 70 to 80% up take on the vaccine to achieve herd immunity, so until we get that, and that will take months, the way we have temporary immunity is wearing a mask. that's your vaccine substitute until you get vaccinated. that's what i'm telling my patients. so the vaccine will protect you long term, a mask protects you in near term. so let's do that. and once we move beyond 70% of

the population vaccinated, we'll see dramatic dip in new infections. >> i want you to listen to what the pfizer ceo said last night. >> what about the question of even though i've had the protection, am i still able to transmit it to other people? >> i think this is something that needs to be examined, we are not certain of that now with what we know. >> you said now, a mask is a vaccine substitute. but it is a critical question and means uncertainty what the pfizer ceo just said for americans and how they should act in their everyday lives even after they're vaccinated. >> i think it is pretty clear. i think after you're vaccinated, you should continue to wear a mask. you should continue to wear a mask until we are at a point in this country where it appears we have broken the back of the

virus. and i think that's going to be into next fall. we're going to be wearing masks into next fall, and we can do that. we'll get data to understand whether the vaccines truly prevent infection which is different than preventing illness, right now in the united states, preventing illness is really the key. >> of course. my take away is stock up for your holiday gifts on masks, we're going to be wearing them awhile. doctor, thank you so much for that. a programming note, dr. anthony fauci will join anderson cooper and dr. sanjay gupta to answer your questions about coronavirus vaccines. coronavirus town hall, the vaccines tonight at 9:00 p.m. up next, we dig into cnn's exclusive interview with president-elect joe biden and vice president elect kamala harris whose husband gets an unprecedented title. >> is he the second gentleman, the second dude? what should we be calling him?

>> well, i think the term has evolved into the second gentleman. yes. yes. i think some of his friends are inclined to say that. >> you'll call him the second gentleman? >> no, i'll call him honey. my kids, they know i'm a scientist. but it's hard to explain to them what i do every day. ♪ right now, i'm working on purification technologies that help advance vaccine and therapy research for covid-19. one day, they'll realize i wasn't just trying to help them go out and play again. i was trying to make it safer for the whole world to get back outside too.

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understand the situation they find themselves in and until the election is clearly decided in the minds of the electoral college votes, they get put in a very tough position, so that's number one. >> you think the fever on that will break after the electoral college meets? >> the least significant portion of the leadership. i don't know that it is going to break across the board. >> here with me to discuss, my friend and colleague gloria b e borger. i know you always do reporting, do you think more republican senators will begin to speak out finally, i don't know, somebody in leadership other than liz cheney? >> yeah, finally acknowledging the sky is blue when the sky has been blue quite some time, i think they will after december 14th when the electors meet.

i want to point out, dana, i think the vice president was or president-elect, joe biden, was incredibly gracious there when he was saying i understand the position they are in. >> yep. >> and very restrained. and gives you a little insight into who he is because as a negotiator, biden is pretty well known for saying to people i understand where you're coming from and i think that's what he was saying out loud to jake yesterday, and i think that's the way he operates. it was gracious and restrained. >> you're so right. legislating is an art. one of the first things you need to know is how to figure out what will mess up the person on the other side of the table with the base and what isn't. this is a great example. such a good point. jake also asked biden if he would like donald trump to attend his inauguration. here's what the president-elect

said. >> president trump has not said if he's going to attend your inauguration yet. do you think it is important that he is there? you're laughing. >> i think it would, important only in one sense, not in a personal sense, important in the sense that we are able to demonstrate at the end of this chaos that he's created that there is peaceful transfer of power with the competing parties standing there shaking hands and moving on. >> i mean, you had two people there, looked like vice president-elect harris was biting her lip, trying not to laugh. it is not a laughing matter, he was making that point, this is the perception of america historically and around the world, but what did you make of it? >> well again, you know, we both covered joe biden. this is a guy who before he

became president-elect often shot from the hip and would give you a quick retort, like i don't care whether he comes or not, he has a seat, if he occupies it fine, if not, fine. but it is clear to me he talked about this with staff, about the appropriate answer to give because we all know that there's no love lost between these two men and his answer was the right answer, if there is a right answer, which is it matters a lot to the rest of the world. it matters about how america handles its transfer of power. i think the question is how will donald trump handle this because he's going to be thinking not about how it matters to the rest of the world, he's going to be thinking about how it matters to his base, the people he wants to keep happy. >> always. gloria, i'm sure you heard the president-elect was asked by jake about the reporting that the president is considering

pardons for himself, members of his family, and what biden said is he is just worried about the precedent. he said how it looks to the rest of the world. but he said very clearly that his justice department would be independent. he wouldn't tell the justice department how to act and react. and i know that you have some new reporting with pamela brown about what is going on inside the current white house on this. >> right. well, the white house counsel's office has been leading multiple meetings about this question of pardons and preemptive pardons and making their lists, checking it twice, who should be on it, who should be off it. one thing pamela and i have reported in addition to all of the white house reporting on all of this is that one game that's clearly being considered is jared kushner's father, charles, who was serving prison time at one point for tax evasion, among other things.

we're also told that jared has not raised that with the president, but that the president knows of course that that is what he would like and some of the groups that jared worked with on criminal justice reform have also raised that as a possibility. so whether it will happen or not, we don't have any idea, but interesting that that's a name that's circulating. >> conflicts of interest be damned, i guess. well, that's not a new story. gloria, thank you so much for the reporting. great to see you. >> see you downstairs. >> okay. thanks. up next, hiring in the u.s. slows as congress looks like it is getting closer to a deal to provide relief for millions of americans. we'll see how real the negotiations are. i felt like... ...i was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. so when i heard about the applied digital skills courses, i'm thinking i can become more marketable. you don't need to be a computer expert to be great at this. these are skills lots of people can learn.

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new employment numbers show the u.s. added 245,000 jobs in november, only about half what economists expected, but we saw a slight dip in the unemployment rate, down to 6.7%. the new numbers come as pandemic unemployment benefits are set to expire just after christmas unless congress acts fast. president-elect biden put out a statement moments ago on the jobs report calling it grim. he will have remarks later today. i want to get straight to cnn's christine romans that can breakdown the numbers like no one else can.

what do they tell us? >> they tell us recovery from the awful job loss at the beginning of the pandemic is slowing. when you look at the trajectory here, this is not the v shaped recovery that so many have been hoping for. i made this just for you, dana, so you can see. look how many jobs lost february to april. 22 million. we color coded each of the months coming back. you can see we are in a deep jobs hole, still down 9.8 million jobs. all but 20 million are getting some jobless benefit in the country, and that's going to start running out. jobless rate did fall to 6.7%. i have to say the worst fears of many of us about what the jobless rate would do over the summer have not been met. up jobless rate coming down, super important. behind the numbers, dana, is the why. think of it. 400,000 people dropped out of the labor market in the last month. over the past five, six months it is like 4 million people, and

they're mostly women and baby boomers. why is that? well, kids aren't in school, family members need to be taken care of for health reasons. this is kind of a scary situation in terms of the recovery ahead because you need those workers and their productivity to really heal. so behind the numbers, that's sort of what we're seeing here. >> christine, that's the story we cannot tell often and loudly enough, that so much of the numbers is because of women who decided to, had to quit jobs because kids are at home, learning from home, or have elderly parents or relatives. >> we're still in the thick of it here. i hope congress is looking at the numbers, not saying jobless rate is 6.7%, 8 percentage point below where it was at the worst. that's true. but staring into the teeth of the worst of the virus. these numbers could be negative next month. >> christine romans, thank you so much. appreciate that. speaking of congress, after months of stalemate, coronavirus relief negotiations are

reignited on capitol hill thanks to a bipartisan group of lawmakers putting together a stimulus framework. house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke the first time yesterday since the november 3rd election. mcconnell said the call was, quote, a good conversation. a short time ago, speaker pelosi said the bipartisan framework offers a path forward with republicans. >> it is not everything we want, don't get me wrong. i don't want the republicans to think this is a dream come true, it is not, but it is a path forward. >> cnn's lauren fox is on capitol hill. lauren, i can't imagine how many steps you put in over the past week chasing around the lawmakers who finally decided to talk to one another again on something so critical to americans right now. where do stimulus talks stand at this time? >> reporter: what a difference a week makes, dana. the negotiations when we started, no one was really talking in the beginning of the

week when it came to leadership talks. now we of course have this bipartisan framework, and what all eyes are on on capitol hill now is whether or not they can actually put pen to paper. remember, it is one idea to have a framework and top line number that says okay, we all agree we're spending $908 billion. we all agree in a small business program, another round of the paycheck protection program, but the sticking points remain. these are issues that have bedevilled leadership for multiple months now. one of them is state and local funding. you have a lot of republicans arguing states are doing better, that's because many republican states are doing better than what was expected. they're arguing democrats don't need much more money when it comes to state and local funding. democrats obviously argue the opposite side of that, saying it is essential for workers in their states, from firefighters to police officers to get that money. meanwhile, republicans are insisting on liability

insurance. something that democrats pushed back on. behind the scenes negotiations are happening. all of these members have broken into smaller teams to try to figure out some of these problems. whether or not they can do it by self imposed monday deadline, dana, that's another question. >> you know what, we've seen it before, where there is a will, there's a way. looks like they're finally getting their will back after not doing the job for the american people as they face these crises, incredible, horrible time for people. thank you so much, lauren. appreciate the reporting as always. up next, the president-elect defends diversity of his emerging cabinet. i talk to a trail blazing member of the obama cabinet that worked with joe biden. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

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their job is to push me, every special interest, and i don't see thi don't say that in negative way, every advocacy group is pushing for more and more of what they want. that's their job. my job is to keep my commitment, to make the decisions, when it is all over, people take a look and say i promise you, you'll see the most diverse cabinet, representative of all folks, asian americans, african americans, latinos, lbgtq, across the board. >> lawmakers on capitol hill and civil rights groups are pushing president-elect biden and vice president-elect harris to pick a diverse cabinet. yesterday, members of the congressional hispanic caucus

met with ron klain, incoming chief of staff and other members of the transition. some members of hispanic caucus expressed frustration with administration picks so far. next week biden and harris meet with naacp. joining me, janet napolitano, former secretary of homeland security under president obama and former governor of arizona. thank you so much for joining me. so these biden picks, we're putting them on the screen, i don't believe you can see them, you're obviously very familiar with them. as you heard, joe biden says he already has the most diverse cabinet picks in history. you were the first woman to serve as dhs secretary, you worked with joe biden in the obama administration. when you see this, do you have any concerns? where do you want him to fill in with the remaining cabinet members he has not yet announced? >> i think one thing people need to keep in mind is that he has a ways to go. there are many positions that

are not yet filled and i think president-elect biden and his team are going to be identifying the strongest possible candidates to fill those positions and part of that strength will be the diversity of the cabinet and, you know, from what i can see, i can't see it on the screen here, but from what i know it's already a pretty diverse group and there are so many qualified and diverse candidates out there that part of the problem is kind of weeding your way through to get to the pick that the president-elect feels most comfortable with. >> so this just happened this morning, cnn reports two members of the congressional black caucus sent a letter to president-elect biden urging him to pick michele flournoy for defense secretary. she served in the obama administration. do you co-sign that, should she be the pick? >> i know michele.

she would be an excellent pick. she would be the first woman to be the secretary of defense. that sends a great message as well. but she's so well versed on our nation's defense, our defense capacities, the challenges that face dod. she would really be a good pick. >> i want to ask about progressives, people like vermont senator bernie sanders, they're really pushing biden and harris to have more progressive voices in the cabinet. i want to play their response to that question last night. >> who would you point to now as a leading progressive voice in the cabinet? >> we're not done yet, jake, we're not even halfway there. i think we should have this conversation when we're done. >> a lot of people are saying am i going to pick some very, very prominent and well known progressive who sits in the house or senate right now.

as close as everything is in terms of the house and senate, they are tough decisions to make, to pull somebody i badly need out of the senate and we don't reelect or have appointment of somebody who is a democrat. >> i want to ask about that argument, it is not apples to apples, you were governor, not senator, has to do with balance of power, not an executive of the state. however, when you entered the obama administration, you well know you were replaced by a republican governor. i'm sure you heard similar concerns voiced before. so how much should that be a concern of biden and harris? >> oh, i think it is a very relevant factor. you know, people still remember and some arizonans hold it against me that when i left to join the obama administration, i was term limited, i was near the end of my time as governor, but

nonetheless republican jan brewer succeeded me, and people weren't happy about that. when you get to the congress, the margins are so slim between the parties that removing a democrat, i think you really have to think twice about doing that. i think president-elect biden is signaling in a very helpful way that he knows that and he's going to be very careful if he makes that sort of a selection. >> so interesting. let me ask you about national security and who joe biden has selected so far, for homeland security, may or kiss, avril haines, and jake sullivan. what do you think the biggest challenges will be for them at the beginning, aside from the obvious, the pandemic, but beyond that.

>> i think one of them is to reestablish the relationship between the intelligence community and the president, which hasn't actually been a good one under president trump. but from a security perspective, i think the security aspects of climate change need a real focus and long term strategy on how we're going to deal with that. climate change has so many ripple effects that confound our national security from kind of extreme weather patterns to destabilization of countries where, for example, there's been extreme drought and the agricultural economy is down the tubes, and all of a sudden you have political unrest, and so i

believe that climate change needs to be at the forefront. >> always fascinating to talk to you. former governor of arizona, you can see, maybe not in this shot, you could see with the pillow behind her her sister made. former secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano. there you see it. thank you so much for joining me. appreciate it. >> thanks, dana. up next, the california governor says his state is at a tipping point in the fight against coronavirus. the new restrictions he is putting in place next. on your interests find a sd or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. on all the food that makes you boogie. - [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals (upbeat music) get the food you love with perks from- - [crowd] grubhub.

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in parts of california right now, residents face looming stay at home orders that will be triggered when too many patients sick with coronavirus fill hospital icu beds. the numbers are not in their favor. this week, california for the first time reported 21,000 new covid cases in one day, demand for more hospital beds can't be far behind. stephanie elam is in los angeles. breakdown the stay at home order, what it means and doesn't mean. >> reporter: and dana, keep in mind, we haven't seen the expected surge after thanksgiving, that's a couple weeks away. that's why these numbers are terrifying. here in los angeles county, we hit a record number of new cases that were reported. that number is 7,854, according

to the state. that's the second record this week in hospitalizations. also hitting a record as well. 2,572. broke the record set the day before. that shows you things are going in the wrong direction here. they do expect the icu beds will fall below 15% threshold next week. in fact, according to the governor, taking a look at the new stay at home order that we are on the precipice of now, it looks at the state, breaks it up into five different regions. and then inside those regions, when the icu bed capacity falls below 15%, that's when it will trigger a new stay at home order. there are some things that are different. in the spring, you could go outside. all those things are staying up. that's a big difference. when they look at the number, they expect next week four out of five regions will be in that category and the week after that, you'll see that final area fall within it. it shows you things are not

going the right direction here, dana. >> sure aren't. stephanie, thank you for bringing that to us. up next, the president gets ready to rally in georgia for two gop senate runoff candidates whose fate will determine the balance of power in washington. some republicans are nervous about what he might say. it's fy and minitron's got some new news! contactless curbside pickup is here! just tap for tasty in the app. and pickup contactless. cause it's safety first. right, tiny car? you wearing your seatbelt little man? subway. eat fresh.

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vice president pence in georgia today meeting with the cdc, then campaigning for the

state's two senate runoffs. republicans, of course. the president gearing up to hold his own rally tomorrow in the peach state. here's a tale of two trump tweets. this morning, the president wrote big rally saturday night in georgia. less than an hour later, rigged election. that mixed messaging has some republicans in the peach state, in washington worried about the president's involvement in the runoff races. with me, jonathan martin. good to see you j-mart. take us inside the strategy of trump traveling there, the pros and cons. >> the pros are that nobody turns out conservative voters like this president, especially in rural parts of georgia, he is essential. that's why he is going to south georgia. that's about six hours from atlanta and the heart of south georgia. the down side is he may promote

loeffler and perdue, senate candidates, but there's concern among senior gop officials he is going to go off the rails, is going to talk about this being a rigged election, criticize the governor, criticize the secretary of state, and i think the concern is that that drowns out his messaging for the two senate candidates, that that becomes the take away in news coverage in the days after. i think that's the concern. >> jonathan, this is so ironic to me. i don't know if that's the right word. you tell me. the leadership here in washington, they have been reluctant to say anything, particularly republican senate leadership, they don't want to anger donald trump because they're worried about winning the senate race. meantime, they're not correcting the notion that there's a rigged election, but they could be cutting off their nose to spite their face with the very goal they're so worried about. >> yes. there's no question about it,

they're torn between trying to pacify president trump and his conspiracy mongering about the election to keep him somewhat settled, in a good place that he can help the cause in georgia, be a force for good in georgia. at the same time, we are days away from the election being ratified by the electoral college and that is creating some challenges in terms of reality. i talked to a few senators in the capitol this week, including john cornyn, from texas, and they make the point that that december 14th vote for electoral college could actually be an important hinge point in the georgia race because that at least gives loeffler and perdue, the two candidates in georgia, the opportunity to say this has now been decided and it is important that we have a check on democrats in washington because that's the best message,

dana, that you might not prefer biden, but do you want full democratic control of the seat. they can't drive that message as long as the president refuses to acknowledge reality. >> i talked to roy blunt this past sunday, that's what he kept pointing to, the electoral college vote. we have seen dates come and go when the republicans were going to stand up and explain reality to the president and it hasn't happened. maybe that will be the date. i want to quickly ask about the republican governor in georgia, brian kemp. he has been on the receiving end of many of the president's attacks. i want you to listen to how he responded to those last night. >> he's talked to you, right? >> look, i'm frustrated like he is, a lot of people are. the president as i said many times, he's a fighter. you know, we've had a few battles, but nobody worked harder for donald trump before november 3rd and i have continued to support his efforts

in the campaign any way illegally could. >> about 45 seconds left, jonathan. take me into the reality of what you just heard. >> two things. first of all, the key words there, legally could. he is trying to make the case he helped trump but also making clear he didn't break any laws doing so, and that's why he can't deny the reality of biden carrying the state because of those two words, he did everything he legally could. kemp is looking to the future, i don't mean january and the senate, his own future. he needs president trump supporters to get the nomination to win re-election to governor in 2022, he can't alienate those people being too hard on trump. >> i think that ship has sailed, but we'll see what happens. jonathan martin, always great to see you, always appreciate you sharing your reporting with us. and a programming note,

senator kelly loeffler and reverend raphael warnock debate sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. thank you so much for joining us. brianna keilar picks up coverage right now. hello, i am brianna keilar. welcome to viewers in the united states and around the world. we are starting with the new dire prediction on the coronavirus toll. a new model is estimating a half million americans will have died by april. thursday, the u.s. had a record breaking number of new cases and hospitalizations and deaths. more than 217,000 new cases fueled by nine states that set their own records for new cases. wednesday, we saw the first every day of more than 100,000 hospitalizations and repeat of that yesterday when 2,879 people died from coronavirus. as we