a drink with friends can turn into two, and a prescription can be stronger than you thought. stop! there are a lot of ways to get a dui. and a lot of ways to go-- text a friend, call a cab, share a ride. whatever you choose to do, go safely, california. hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining me at this hour. the new covid strain facial played its way into the united states. why there's no evidence this variance is more deadly, experts say it's even more contagious than other strains of the coronavirus. right now there's one confirmed case and one suspected case in colorado, with fears about a new

threat to the nation's already overwhelmed health care system. in the final days of this tumultuous year, the country continues to set sobering pandemic records. yesterday alone more than 124,600 americans were hospitalized with covid. that is the highest number yet. the country is reporting 3,700 deaths, that too a record for the most fatalities in a single day. among those killed, newly elected republican congressman luke letlow, just 41 years old and days from being sworn in to represent louisiana's fifth congressional district. i want to get right to cnn's senior medical correspondent for details on the first known case of the new covid variant here in the use. elizabeth, what more can you tell us about this strain? >> bianna, let's talk a little bit about this colorado man. we are told he's in his 20s, he had no travel history.

that's really important. he didn't go to the uk and get this. he got this from someone else here in the united states, and that there is an additional suspected case awaiting confirmation. even having said this, it's important, but i want to put a note here, there's probably hundreds of these cases out there at least. that's what experts are telling me. it's just we haven't caught it. why hasn't the united states caught other cases of this new variant, the surveillance system in this country is not very good. that's what experts say, it's not very good. that's a problem. there could be other mutations out there, maybe even worse than this one, and we are just not catching them. the cdc says they have a new system that they are gearing up and they hope to have that up and running at full speed soon. bianna? >> the uk surveillance system is among the best in the world, and perhaps this new variant can help explain why we continue to see this rapid increase in cases in the united states. but in terms of vaccines, we

know the uk authorized another one, this from oxford university and astrazeneca. how does this compare to the vaccine of moderna and pfizer, and is there a timeline for its organization here in the u.s.? >> we know about this astrazeneca vaccine, at this point the data shows it's 70% effective while the two out in the united states, moderna and pfizer are 95% effective. that's a big difference, 70% versus 95%. as far as when we might see this one here in the use, not any time very, very soon. they haven't gone to the fda yet. the fda has not sought advice from its advisers. so it's not on the immediate horizon. there will be questions that need to be answered. dr. offit, who was with you last hour, is on the fda advisory committee. he said the data raises a lot of

questions. they had two suddeny subjects get ill after having the vaccine. they seemed to have neurological illnesses. there are different questions that need to be answered. >> and it seems to be different impacts given various levels of vaccine administered to patients as well. so as you said, a lot of questions still to be asked so we don't expect to see that approved here in the u.s. any time soon. elizabeth, thank you very much. we really appreciate it. why is the u.s. vaccination rate lagging behind that of other countries? cnn's kristen holmes is in washington tracking the vaccine rollout for us. kristen, what is the holdup? we expected or they promised 20 million by the end of the year. that's tomorrow. what's going on here? that's right, bianna. where we stand right now the cdc said 11 million doses have been shipped out but only 2.1 million doses have actually been put into people's arms. senior administration officials

say this number is not accurate. they believe it's because of a lag in reporting but as we talked about, even if it's a lag in reporting, even if it's an underestimate, the idea it would be 18 million shots in arms is very unlikely given every single medical expert that we've talked to. so what are some of the reasons that could be holding this up? i talked to many industry experts who tell me there's really four categories to look at. one is simply vaccine supply. we know overall 330 million people roughly in america want or need to get vaccinated. we know we're nowhere near that number when it comes to production. the administration has utilized the defense production act but how quickly they can actually produce those vaccines, that's a big question mark still. the other two right there, they kind of go together. you have an inadequate infrastructure as well as challenges with transporting or storing the vaccine. this is not something the united

states has done before. this has an ultra cold storage. it has chain of command and it's very different from any other vaccines that we've seen here in this country. the states are doing this on their own and it took time, its still taking time. people have to learn how exactly to deal with this vaccine, how to handle it. as we know, we already heard stories about doses being lost because of human error, because of mishandling of this vaccine, even though it was an accident. and last we hear they talk a lot about communication and how much of this is an overpromise by the administration that we started with the idea that there could be 100 million vaccines by the end of the year, then it went to 40 million and then 20 million, that this overpromise made the public really believe this could be quake process when in fact it could take more time. bianna? >> elizabeth cohen has done incredible reporting for us just to give us a comparison how many vaccines had been administered for 100,000 in other countries. and we're far behind countries

like israel, like the uk. so so many questions still remain about what went wrong. kristen holmes, i know you will continue asking those questions. we appreciate it. president-elect joe biden is slamming the administration vaccination pace, vowing to turn it around when he takes office in three weeks. >> a few weeks ago the trump administration suggested that 20 million americans could be vaccinated by the end of december. with only a few days left in december, we've only vaccinated a few million so far, and the pace of the vaccination program is moving now, as it continues to move as it is now, it's going to take years, not months, to vaccine the american people. >> years, not months. joining me now to discuss is olivia troye, former homeland security security official and covid task force adviser to vice president mike pence. olivia, great to have you on. you were on that task force. what is your assessment of the

vaccine rollout thus far, and why are we so far behind? >> well, first i think it comes down to really just a lack of a national strategy on this vaccine distribution, and this has been a problem for day one on the pandemic response. first it was lack of national strategy on testing, on how that was going to be conducted, and then you see it happen again with ppe. and so i'm not surprised to see it happen again with the vaccination distribution. millions of dollars spent on operation warp speed on developing the vaccines, scientists developing a safe vaccine so the integrity of the process remains intact. the problem is while that vaccine was being developed, there should have been an enormous effort of planning out supply chains distribution, all of these logistics along the way. and while i appreciate general

perna coming forward a week or so ago saying it was his fault for the kickoff of this, it really doesn't excuse this. there should have been a whom team, government approach, and i'm talking about fema and hhs. fema knows how to do this. what this really comes down to is a group of people who sit behind closed doors in the oval office planning and scheming with no interest in actually doing the right thing. >> yet you still have members of this administration, looking at president trump saying it's not on me, it's on states. we got the vaccines here. it's on states to administer and distribute the vaccines. and they're clearly being very defensive about how this played out. why do you think they're taking this stance, in particular brett viewar, who knows better and it takes more than just providing a vaccine, it's about the distribution as well.

>> admiral juran knows better. he knows how this goes. it starts first with no accountability, no taking responsibility. i feel badly for the governors and the states because once again, the shift is going to be to blame them and that's really been the game the entire time. and that continues today. but you know, the most egregious think is that when they do this and they place the blame on the states because the white house doesn't want to take ownership of this, you're really playing with human life, and that is fundamentally what i think is going to be so hard for the biden administration when they come in, they will have a legacy of months of time wasted on this effort that really should have kicked off -- i mean, this is the biggest, most critical thing in responding to the pandemic is this vaccine. we have it and the fact we can't get it out the door and get it out to the people who need it is disgraceful. >> i'm hearing anecdotally of people and their elderly parents

and grandparents waiting in hours for line to get these vaccines. it's inexcusable. but in terms of dealing with it, president oba president-elect biden said he plans on invoking the defense act for vaccine production. why has this current administration been so reluctant to use that? >> i think it's important to get all of us rowing in the same direction. i think the defense production act will be critical in helping that process. frankly, i have known of many companies and manufacturers who have stood by on the sidelines willing to help the government. mine, they've done this on ppe. they've asked, they volunteered, they've offered. repeatedly the white house has turned them down for whatever reason, heerj it was we're going to turn to the private sector or we're going to do this in a way that we can manipulate what's happening and we don't want you involved because we don't really want to be transparent on what's

going on here, and i mean that wholeheartedly. so i think there's a he's tenness hesitancy there because they've done this and i think it's incompetence across the u.s. government, including fema and hhs, who know how to do a national response in the middle of a major crisis. and this is, quite frankly, the biggest crisis we had as a nation. >> by far, and lives are at stake too. olivia troye, thank you very much. happy holidays and happy new year. coming up -- why democrats are not moved by mitch mcconnell on the stimulus check, quote, poison pill." and i will talk to christopher van holland next and coronavirus cases are surging to record levels in california. what's not working there and the battle against covid.

president trump keeping the pressure on senate republicans this morning as he pushes to get $2,000 checks in the hands of americans. the question is, how will senate majority leader mitch mcconnell respond? just yesterday mcconnell blocked an effort by democrats to quickly increase these direct payments. instead introducing legislation that combines stimulus checks with two unrelated trump demands that democrats are almost certain to oppose. cnn congressional reporter

lauren fox joins us now from capitol hill. lauren, what is mcconnell going to do here? >> essentially mcconnell is making it very clear to the president that he doesn't intend to take up a stand-alone bill any time soon, despite the fact president trump has threatened republicans on twitter essentially asking them that unless they have a death wish, that they should bring up this bill. mcconnell has always played the long game when it comes to demands from those within his own party, especially when it comes to president trump. and while, yes, he did file legislation yesterday that would essentially give him an out card if he needed to bring something to the floor, there is no indication at this time that they will even vote on that piece of legislation. essentially what it would do is tie together several controversial provisions with that $2,000 check. essentially it would make changes and get rid of section 230, which would protect companies like facebook and twitter for what is posted on their websites by third parties.

and also would include a provision to establish a voting fraud commission, something the democrats would never support. so that puts mcconnell essentially having an option if needs to bring this bill to the floor. but in the meantime there's no indication that we're going to see any action on checks any time soon. meanwhile, there is an ongoing fight between republicans and democrats over the national defense authorization act. i just want to know democrats are livid at mcconnell over this check issue. we just heard from house speaker nancy pelosi a few minutes ago. i want you to listen to what she had to say. >> it's amazing to see the patience some people have with other people's suffering. these republicans in the senate seem to have an endless tolerance for other people's sadness. we urge mitch mcconnell to stop his obstruction and to bring

that legislation to the floor of the senate. >> and we have democrat senator bernie sanders, actually an independent in the state of vermont, he's blocking republicans from being able to move quickly on that veto override of the national defense authorization act. essentially that could drag out into the weekend. a bit of a mess up here on capitol hill at the moment. >> and this term, as we know, ends sunday as well. so down to the wire. lauren fox, thank you so much. and less discuss all of this with democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland. he sits on the senate appropriations committee and member of the senate budget committee. senator, first, do you agree with president trump, are $2,000 stimulus checks needed asap? >> bianna, it's good to be with you. the answer is yes. the way to make that happen today is for senator mitch mcconnell and senate republicans to let us vote up or down on the $2,000 individual payments bill that's already come over to the

senate from the house of representatives. we can get it to president trump's desk today. he can sign it, and mitch mcconnell and senator republicans are holding this up and playing political games and people are hurting. it's actually disgraceful and this is exactly what the country hates about the plul maneuvers they see on capitol hill. >> and clearly mitch mcconnell is not wanting to move forward with this as a stand-alone bill, attaching what would be described as a poison pill. what is your sense of his ultimate strategy here? and will he prevail? >> his strategy is to stop these individual payments. he's never been for them. large numbers of his senate republican caucus have opposed it. so what he's trying to do is put together a package to give them political cover knowing that it will fail. make no mistake.

the mcconnell proposal is designed to fail but fail in a way that gives some republicans cover. i think this exposes all of them, including their incumbent senators in georgia, who are very close elections, this just shows they have no influence within their own senate republican caucus. they say they want these individuals payments but they're not doing anything to push mitch mcconnell to make that happen. >> those georgia republican senators, kelly loeffler and david purdue, clearly in a tough spot now. now they're expressing support for these $2,000 checks. yesterday they got these tight runoff races, they were supporting $600 up until yesterday. is there enough support to sway mcconnell, or will he try to delay until january 5th has passed? >> well, if those senators like loeffler and purdue had any juice, if they had any influence in their caucus, then they could push senator mcconnell to bring

up the house bill for a vote, upor down vote, on the original payment. afterall, they're telling their constituents in georgia they need to be re-elected to help the people of georgia. the people of georgia want these individual $2,000 payments. they can deliver if they get senator mcconnell to have an up-or-down vote on that house bill. that's what needs to happen and could be addressed today if it were done. >> let me ask you about the defense authorization act. in terms of what senator bernie sanders is doing, saying he's going to delay a vote on overriding the president's veto until these $2,000 checks are considered on the floor, have you heard of any other democrats that are willing to go in lockstep with him with that tactic? >> look, i support bernie sanders' efforts here. i support the national defense authorization bill.

but we want senator mcconnell to schedule a vote on the $2,000 individual payment. so what senator bernie sanders is saying is give us an up-or-down vote on that and then we can vote on the veto overriding the national defense authorization bill. my sense is this is an approach worth pursuing. i would like to see us override the president's veto on the ndaa but i also very much want senator mcconnell to schedule an up-or-down vote on the payments. >> i do want to ask you on breaking news we just got, "the washington post" and others reporting senator john haul jwl said he would contest the vote next week, which would be at least a delay to senator joe biden's victory. what is your reaction to that? do you fear or worry that there may be others that may follow suit now? >> this is just grossly

irresponsible by senator hawley, going and undermining even more public confidence in our democratic process, siding with the false trump narrative that somehow the election was fraudulently won by joe biden. and what he's done now is throw this up for a vote in the house and senate. it will not succeed. joe biden will be sworn in january 20th as the next president but it will succeed in further undermining people's confidence in the process. i can tell you senate republicans did not want to have this vote in the senate because either they're going to have to show their loyalty by donald trump by voting against reality because we know joe biden won these states, or they're going to have to support the outcome of the democratic process and get donald trump upset. i hope they will stand up for

democracy and the rule of law, and what josh hawley is doing right now is undermining that very important process. >> he's undermining mitch mcconnell as well, and temporarily siding with president trump, with what he wants others to do as well. senator chris hollen, always great to have you on. happy new year to you. >> and happy new year to you. coming up -- a dire situation in california as covid cases surge. now some hospitals are preparing for the worst as doctors and nurses get pushed to their breaking point. wake up on the right side of the bed this year shop the new year sale with 15% off today at casper.com wake up on the right side of the bed this year these days you need more than an education. so that's what we give you. introducing career services for life.

learn more at phoenix.edu at wand get way more,spend less you look like this. but you feel... like this. sofas from one-ninety-nine. coffee tables from seventy-nine dollars. decor from twenty-nine dollars. oh yeah. feels good to save. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪

when it comes to finding and buying your dream home, we'll be there to make it happen. we'll be there when you want better rates too. or to get money for retirement. we'll be there because we work only with veteran families like yours to help you get the most life out of a home for the life of your family

a viral tsunami, that's how one epidemiologist is describing the surge of covid cases in los angeles county. the situation in california is so dire that state officials there say it's time for hospitals to prepare for, quote, crisis care, which means hospitals across the region could be asked to pull their resources in order to pull through this moment. here's cnn correspondent nick valencia on how california landed in this position >> reporter: l.a. county emergency room nurse tony catonio said her hospital is running out of oxygen tanks and space in the morgue. >> our morgue is full. it's only a matter of time before they start breaking out

the butcher trucks >> reporter: throughout the pandemic she's used her social media to warn residents of what's to come if the current trend of covid cases continues. >> ten hours later, there's still just as many ambulances. they don't stop coming. they don't stop coming >> reporter: cases in the case have surged, despite of strict covid-19 protocols, including a stay-at-home order. while governor gavin newsom pushed for a lockdown, shutting down theme parks, limiting dining at restaurants and shuttering movie theaters to flatten the curve, meanwhile in florida, a state still wide open for months, things are still faring better as the rate of new covid cases. why? health officials say los angeles was uniquely susceptible to an infectious disease outbreak. >> l.a. county is home to some of the most overcrowded housing setups in the country. and because of that, you're seeing a lot of household transmission of the virus. there are high rates of poverty and high rates of homelessness

>> reporter: california's large population means many are suffering from poverty or homelessness. the winding gap of covid cases present in california is also a stark reminder many essential workers there are people of color. the rate at which people are getting sick, especially latino residents, are most alarming. california's department of health said 47% of the covid-related deaths are latino, despite latinos makeling up just 38.9% of california's population. since the thanksgiving holiday, california has continued to set daily record highs in hospitalizations and covid-related deaths. as of tuesday, the seven-day rolling average of new cases is up by more than 37,000. that's more than a 13% increase in new positive cases in the past week. since the start of the pandemic, more than 24,000 people have died in california. now with hospitals flooded and airports packed, california is becoming the next epicenter of the pandemic. >> i think january and february are going to be really dark.

>> i think we're all pret dwriered. >> our thanks to nick valencia for that. joining us now to talk about what is happening in california, cnn medical analyst dr. jorge rodriguez. dr. rodriguez, thank you very much for joining us. you're there in los angeles county. does viral tsunami, is that characterization appropriate? does it accurately depict the situation on the ground there now? >> well, it does. if you go to ers here, there are lines of ambulances and many hospitals to get in. the staff is worn to fringes and some infrastructures there's not enough to deliver oxygen at the rate necessary to all who require it. so california is going through a very tough time now. somewhere and this is happening in california as we're learning about a more contagious strain of the coronavirus officially

arriving to the united states. a 29-year-old man is in colorado in isolation. what can you tell us about this strain, and do you think this is one reason why we continue to see such a surge in cases? >> you know, that's an interesting question because i've asked that to people who are much more knowledgeable than i. so far that hasn't been shown. it's very possible the united states has not checked for what's called genome viruses here and it only makes sense that that mutation is going to spread. the mutation unfortunately occurred in an area of the virus that makes the virus a lot more infectious but not deadlier, it seems. which at first glance you would think hey, that's not so bad. the truth is the more infections there are, the sicker people will be and the more people will be going to hospitals. and as mentioned earlier, this is adversely affecting especially the communities of color and hispanic, which we're

seeing sort of the injustice that has been going on for generations and access to medical care among the communities of color. >> and both dr. fauci and president-elect biden have said the worse is yet to come, that january can very well be worse than december. but this moment is reminiscent of the past spring, where we restricted travel to the uk because the virus was already here. this colorado man infected, he had no recent travel history. that's led many to believe we already could be seeing community spread. should we be rethinking our travel restrictions at this point? >> well, in my opinion, yes. but there's so much more to this than just travel restrictions. here we are supposedly the most advanced, richest country in the world, and we still don't have good leadership, first of all

from the top. we don't have contact tracing. we can't ease click which type of virus is floating around in the community. hell, we can't even give adequate care to many of our citizens. so there's so much to do. yes, i think that mutation is already in the use. so we need to do all that we can and perhaps one of them is to decrease travel. >> you're absolutely right, the richest country in the world and yet we've got so many that are food insecure and we're not even up to speed in terms of testing for covid as well. a lot of catch-up. go ahead. >> and this pandemic has definite sideline the holes and inequality we have in our health care system. hopefully in the next four years we can start correcting that. we need to believe in science, and more than that, we need to believe and trust in each other. >> amen. well said, dr. jorge rodriguez. thank you so much. happy new year to you.

we'll be right back. welcome, today's discussion will be around sliced meat. moms want healthy... and affordable. land o' frost premium!!! no added hormones either. it's the only protein i've really melted with. land o' frost premium. fresh look. same great taste. less sick days! cold coming on? zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam's unique zinc formula. it shortens colds! zicam zinc that cold!

missouri republican senator josh hawley says he will object when congress counts the electoral college votes next wednesday. his objections will not change the result of the election but force lawmakers in both the house and senate to vote on whether they accept the results of the presidential election and president-elect joe biden's victory. in other words, a delay.

cnn political director david chalian joins me now. david, josh hawley is the first senator to announce his plans to object, clearly de-feig whe dee wh defying what mitch mcconnell wanted. >> as you said, it's all about making a point and delay but will not change the results. joe biden will still become president of the united states on january 20th. but we saw something similar play out back in 2005 after the 2004 bush versus kerry election, there was a democratic congresswoman from ohio, stephanie tubbs jones, she was joined by barbara boxer, senator from california, they objected to ohio's electoral count making a point about voting there, and voter disenfranchisement and paper ballots.

and what you said is exactly what will happen, the joint session breaks up. the house debates the challenge separately. the senate debates the challenge. so they each go to their own chamber. there's debate. there's a vote on it. it's unlikely there is going to be a vote that passes, that actually somehow upends the electoral count. that doesn't seem really within the realm of possibility. so it's all about making a point and josh hawley is laying down the fist marker for perhaps a presidential run in 2024. he wants to make sure all of his trump supporters know he's an alley of president trump, who still holds so much power signed the party. >> and despite the embarrassment for the democratic process here, it does raise a question of voter integrity. and josh hawley said at the very least congress should adopt measures to secure the integrity

of our election but congress has failed to act. in terms of what we have upcoming in georgia, the two runoffs, the lft thing these two senators need to have worry about is people question the integrity of their vote. so how does this square? >> the president of the united states is the person questioning the integrity of the georgia vote. he's been doing so nonstop since november 3rd. today he called for the resignation of the governor. this is -- let's just be clear, what is different about this time around with josh hawley is doing than what we saw in the past is remember in the past, john kerry had already conceded the election. donald trump has not conceded the election. he had 50-something lawsuits. to your point about voter integrity, every single challenge the trump team bought containing voter fraud was thrown out of court or dismissed or ruled against. just as attorney general barr has said, former attorney

general barr i guess now, but he said there's no widespread voter fraud here. it's not been found anywhere. so to stand up and make a point about something that's already gone through 50 court cases and everyone looked at and said it didn't exist seems to me a pure political play to court favor with the base. to your point, the runoff happens january 5th. these will january 6th. let's see if we have all of the counts in georgia. it took a while after the general election. we may not even have a result in georgia. >> i have to say it's ridiculous and it seems shameful. josh hawley knows better. >> we will see if he has any colleagues join him in that effort. that will be the big question. >> we know you will be following that closely for us, thank you. coming up -- virtual learning, missed games and social isolation. that's been the new reality for kids across the country. one superintendent said quarantine rules, well, they've

gone just too far. he's joining me next. ♪

the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope. donate now at redcross.org

president-elect joe biden says reopening schools will be a priority of his for the first 100 days in office, but the way forward is still unclear, as coronavirus consumes the country. one big question posed by educators -- how long should kids stay away from school if

exposed to the virus? well, one superintendent rethinking his school's quarantine policy says, quote, we're overquarantining kids like crazy. and that superintendent joins me now. jonathan cooper is superintendent of schools in mason, ohio. jonathan, welcome. you say schools are overreaching when it comes to quarantining kids. tell us why. >> well, thanks for having me. you know, when i say that, what i'm specifically referring to is, in our classrooms, we follow a safety bundle, and that safety bundle means that, basically, kids are wearing mask 100% of the time. and within that three-foot distance of each other, we have not seen any network of spread or any community spread within that zone. and so, if we're following those specific safety protocols that health experts have placed out there for us as schools, then our argument would be, let's take a closer look at the science behind that, and that's where we've partnered up with governor dewine and the state, to look specifically at the science behind, how safe are

classrooms? and what we have found over time is that we have not seen that community spread within schools. so, schools have been a safe place for our kids to be. so quarantining kids, putting them out for 14 days at a time when they're healthy is a big stress on the system. it's a stress for families, it's a stress for our teachers, and it's a stress for our students who are really struggling with that mental health component. >> yeah, there's a debate as to whether 10 days or 14 days is appropriate, and the cdc's gone back and forth on that in terms of quarantining. but look, i've been covering this beat for months now and i agree with you, the data does seem to show that spread does not occur in schools where the kids are distanced and they are wearing masks. can you talk about how the students are affected by these quarantine periods, however, when they're at home, when they're away from school for 10 or 14 days? >> great question. you know, here at mason city schools, one of the things we've experienced is that our students feel disconnected when they're at home. 80% of our students chose to come back in person. and they have a deep connection with their teachers.

and that relationship with our teachers and the job that our teachers do each and every day in our classrooms keeps our kids connected. it helps them to learn and they connect socially as well with their friends and with others. what we have noticed over time is that if we continue to quarantine, it's hard for other schools to open up. and superintendents across the state and across the nation worked really hard on the logistics in keeping our schools safe for students and for staff. our teachers have done a great job as well. when students are separated out and they're at home, it's hard for our teachers to connect with them while they're trying to teach in-person students. it's hard for our students that are at home to find that sense of belonging. they feel disconnected. that social isolation is the piece that they're experiencing. we've seen an uptick in the concerns over our mental health with our students because of this. and so, we want to take a closer look at the science and say, could we shorten that time? could we rethink that? the larger issue here -- and you probably know this, bianna, because you've been looking at

this, is that it's creating an equity gap across the united states where schools are having a hard time opening up because of some of these rules. and these rules hold schools back from opening. >> of course. and look, technology's wonderful, but it only gets you so far. we need kids in classrooms. and it's only highlighting the inequities that we have in this country right now. jonathan cooper, thank you so much for flagging this for us. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. and coming up, the uk coronavirus variant has surfaced in colorado. we'll get a live update from denver as brooke baldwin continues our coverage after a quick break. let's get checked for a full range of conditions.

let's get fast, accurate results. introducing letsgetchecked heth testing you do at home. know youhealth. know yourself. order now at letsgetccked dot com do you have a life insurance policy you no loer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of life insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit conventrydirect.com to find out if you policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, ...little things... ...can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable.

don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. save up to 15% on a cozy casper mattress wake up on the right side of the bed this year shop the new year sale with 15% off today at casper.com

hi, there. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you so much for being with me today. the u.s. officially has its very first known case of this new coronavirus strain. colorado now confirming at least one person is infected with it, and officials there suspect a second person might be sick as well. and while there is no evidence it is more deadly than the original strain, this new covid variant is believed to be more contagious. and of course, it's only adding to concerns over the country's already overwhelmed health care system. just yesterday, the u.s. set staggering, new records. there were more people hospitalized with covid on tuesday than any other day of this pandemic. more