live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with robyn curnow. hi and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm robyn curnow. this is cnn. today is super bowl sunday, arguably one of the biggest entertainment events in america. and it literally kicks off an even more eventful week. super bowl lv between the kansas city chiefs and tampa bay buccaneers will be unlike any other. the stadium will only be about a

third full due to the pandemic. the game comes as recent trends show an encouraging decline in new covid cases and hospitalizations across the u.s. health experts are warning the crisis is far from over. meanwhile, people watching at home are urged to avoid parties that might spread the virus and the traditional postgame parade at disney world has been canceled. in washington, u.s. lawmakers on monday will begin crafting president biden's ambitious covid relief bill. house democrats aim to have it done in two weeks' time. but overshadowing everything is tuesday's historic second impeachment trial of former president donald trump. there's also startling new video that shows just how closely some who stormed the capitol building last month were listening to mr. trump and what they believed he wanted them to do. listen to this man who calls him the qanon shaman and what he said about trump after the riot.

>> how did you get out? >> of the senate? >> yeah. >> cops walked out with me. >> they just let you go? >> yeah. >> ha ha! >> what's your message to everybody now? >> oh, donald trump asked everybody to go home. he just said it, just put out a tweet. it's a minute long, asked everybody to go home. >> why do you think so? >> lose [ bleep ] one day [ bleep ]. >> how did you win? >> we won by sending a message to senators and congressmen, by sending a message to pence, if they don't do as they're oathed to do, if they don't uphold the constitution, we'll remove them from office, one way or the other. >> this guy recording you, he's not on our side. >> i'm fine with being recorded. all i can say is, we won the [ bleep ] day. donald trump is still our president. >> i do have one more question. there's a lot of people that doubt that you were able to just go in there and come out. what do you have to say to them that doubt you just walked out?

>> well, a lot of people doubted a lot of prophets, saints and sages. a lot of people doubted christ, you know? >> we don't know yet just how this impeachment trial will proceed or how long it will last. what we do know is house republicans that voted to impeach mr. trump are facing major backlash at home. jessica dean has details. >> reporter: the wyoming republican party voted to censure congresswoman liz cheney in response to her vote to impeach former president donald trump. that resolution had a number of inaccuracies in it. congresswoman cheney did respond saying that she was compelled by the oath i swore to the constitution when she took that vote to impeach former president trump. now all of this, of course, coming on the eve of former president trump's second impeachment trial, which is scheduled to start on tuesday. there are still a number of unknowns surrounding that trial, namely how long it will take, we

don't know exactly at this point how long this will go on. and also if witnesses will be called. in this case, it's a very unique situation in that the 100 senators who will be serving as jurors were also witnesses in this case. they experienced the insurrection here on january 6th. house impeachment managers have also requested former president trump to testify. he said he will not be doing that. and right now there's just not an appetite for a subpoena to compel him to testify. we're told house impeachment managers instead intend to say his refusal to testify here at the capitol for the senate impeachment trial underscores his guilt as being singularly responsible for the insurrection on january 6th. cnn political commentator errol lewis joins me from new york, the host of "you decide" podcast. lovely to see you. give me some sense of what you expect from the impeachment in the coming days.

any surprises? >> yeah, there will be surprises. we've never had this, this is history being made. we've never had an ex-president the subject of an impeachment trial in american history. we've only had four impeachments in american history. two of them were of donald trump. so there's a lot of unusual things that are happening right off the bat. what i am expecting is that we'll see a reliving of the attack on the capitol on january 6th. and ironically, of course, it will be taking place in the senate chamber that was overrun by rioters and seized for a while by them. there are a lot of people who are going to be acting technically as jurors. that's what an impeachment trial is. the senate sits in judgment of the president now being impeached, or the ex-president. but there are also witnesses. and the chamber where it's being held is also a crime scene. it's where much of this actually happened. and we've never had a president

or ex-president accused of insurrection, which is what the impeachment article states. so a lot of unusual things happening here. but i think it's going to be a traumatic reliving of something that has been just a wound in our democracy here. the fact that at the time a sitting president spoke to a mob, that mob then stormed into the capitol while votes were being counted, and tried to overturn an election, and five people died in the process. those are the inescapable, uncontested facts and they're going to be laid out. the only question is does donald trump deserve to be convicted of having incited that in insurrection? >> no matter how traumatic, we are expecting the majority of republicans to punt any decision on casting judgment on him. do you think anything will change that? >> anything can happen. this is a test of our

institutions, our democratic institutions. and it may be an imperfect process to hold -- by which to try and hold donald trump accountable, but it's the only process that we have. there are, by most estimates, about 17 republican senators that would have to vote against the president for them to reach the two-thirds majority needed to actually convict him. it's unlikely that they have that many votes. i think there are about 12 short at this point. anything can happen. let's assume the senators will keep an open mind. but even if they don't convict, the record will be laid out. the transparency that people seek, the final accounting of what actually happened and the president's exact role is going to be debated in public, very publicly. and we'll have a better sense of what happened and who should be held accountable. >> while that plays out in the coming week, the past week has also seen a real insite into

what the republican party is, a tug for the soul of this venerable party. what do you make, as the impeachment trial moves forward and this fight for what is republicanism right now and how much of a hold donald trump still has on it, how do you think that's going to play in within the impeachment, at least politically? >> i got to tell you, there's not really much of a fight. the republican party is beholden to donald trump. every poll that you look at, the behavior of the elected officials, everything that you can measure tells you that they're either in full support of him, or in the case of elected officials, they're afraid to cross him and afraid of his followers coming after them. you know, we're talking about 60%, 80% approval of donald trump even after everything that we've seen. even after the party suffered the loss of the white house, the lower house, and the upper house of congress. even after all of that sort of

political destruction that happened on donald trump's watch, there are people who are still publicly saying, we don't know if he really lost the election, we're not going to cross him, we're going to decline to criticize him even after that riotous attack on the capitol. so i don't know if it's that much of a fight, but there are a handful of republicans who are saying, we need to go in another direction, we can't afford to keep suffering these political losses. in the end, that's what's supposed to be the self-correcting mechanism that draws the party in a different direction, but frankly, it hasn't really begun. >> errol lewis, always good to speak to you, live from new york, thank you for your expertise and opinion. president biden is spending the weekend at his home in delaware while he remains focused on a $1.9 trillion covid relief package. he admits that one of his

signature campaign promises will probably have to wait a little bit later. >> reporter: as the push to get his covid relief package passed continues, president biden is acknowledging one element of that proposal may not ultimately make it into the final deal. that is the $15 minimum wage. that is something president biden promoted during the presidential campaign and something he wanted to include in this covid relief package. but in an interview with cbs, the president said that it may not survive due to the senate rules process. take a listen. >> you also want to raise the minimum wage to $15, is that something you would be willing to negotiate on in order to get republican support? >> apparently that's not going to occur because of the rules of the united states senate. >> you're saying the minimum wage won't be in this -- >> my guess is it will not be in it, but i do think that we should have a minimum wage stand by itself, $15 an hour, and work your way up to the $15. it doesn't have to be, boom.

and all the economics show if you do that, the whole economy rises. >> reporter: if that proposal does not make it into the final package, the president indicated he does want to pursue the $15 minimum wage as a standalone measure down the road. the president spent the weekend here at his home in delaware where he also visited the doctor's office to receive an x-ray on his foot which he had fractured in november. the president's physician, dr. kevin o'connor, says those fractures have completely healed. arlette saenz, cnn, delaware. only a small percentage of americans have received a coronavirus vaccination but numbers are ramping up dramatically. that along with plans to get even more vaccines into arms. and find out why a top british doctor is warning of easing lockdown measures too soon, and why he says the uk could be in the thick of a pandemic a little while longer. i've upgraded to mucinex. we still have 12 hours to australia.

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>> similar scenes are playing out across the u.s. as officials work to ramp up these vaccination efforts. in fact, more people now are getting vaccinated than are getting the virus in the u.s. by a factor of 10-1. as of saturday, nearly 40 million doses had been administered. as you can see here, cases are falling across the country. not a single state is in the red. that is good news. but health experts warning that upcoming events like the super bowl could set the country back. >> reporter: in the past week, more than 9 million covid-19 vaccines were administered in the u.s. that outpaced the number of new covid cases 10-1. in the last two days, the number of people hospitalized came under 90,000 for the first time since late november. despite these positive trends, health officials are warning us not to let our guards down. >> at best, we're at halftime and things seem quiet while in the locker room.

but when we come out, the team that we're facing is going to be a lot tougher than the team we faced in the first half of this outbreak. >> reporter: as both the pandemic and the super bowl are on people's minds this weekend, a source familiar with the plan told cnn president joe biden will take advantage of the large national audience on sunday to thank health care workers. an administration official said the white house hopes to combat vaccine hesitancy and speak to the african-american, latino, and white rural nonmask-wearing communities in particular. americans are being discouraged from doing what so many typically do this weekend, attending super bowl parties. >> it's the stupid, not the stupid bowl, all right? let's try to keep everyone safe. don't drink, don't drive, don't bring multiple households together and create a superspreader event in your own home. i guarantee it's going to be your own family are the ones going to be jeopardized. >> reporter: speaking of the nfl, the league this week offered the biden administration every one of its 32 team stadiums as mass vaccination sites.

seven are already in operation, and the 49ers' levi's stadium is about to become california's largest vaccination site. yankee stadium opened friday but only for people in the bronx, an effort to reach underserved communities. >> this is about equity, this is about fairness, this is about protecting people who need the most protection. because the bronx is one of the places that bore the brunt of this crisis. >> reporter: new york city mayor bill de blasio and many state and local officials say the problem continues to be supply. >> other than me just running up there and sitting on somebody, you know, we are -- we're doing everything. it's coming from all fronts. >> reporter: a third vaccine made by johnson & johnson could help increase supply, but the u.s. food and drug administration advisory committee isn't scheduled to discuss it until february 26th. there's some troubling news

on the vaccine front. astrazeneca says its coronavirus shot seems less effective against the variant first spotted in south africa when it's a case of mild disease, but it still believes its vaccine could protect against severe disease. in italy, monoclonal antibodies are cleared to treat the virus. now a top british doctor says despite the vaccine rollout, intensive care units in the uk are full to the rafters. he told british radio while numbers are starting to plateau, he believes for a moment that the uk could remain in the thick of it awhile longer. let's talk with selma abdelaziz in london. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: we are in many ways past the peak, according to scientific advisers here. the epidemic is shrinking that crucial reproduction number,

things are stabilizing, key indicators look much better. but, that's the key, but there are still so many patients in the hospital with coronavirus, more than during the first week, that is still the case. this country's health care system is not out of the woods yet. what does that mean? we have to stay under restrictions, under lockdown for much longer, potentially months longer, while this country's vaccination program really kicks into gear. that's the only protection here against covid-19, particularly because there is this more-transmissible, potentially more-deadly variant that is prevalent here in the uk. it is really only that protection you can get from the vaccine that is going to be able to get this country out of restrictions and out of lockdowns. where are we on that? as of right now we have about 11.5 million people in this country who have received the first does of the vaccine, 1 in 5 adults. the goal is to have -- to be over 50 to get this vaccine by early may. and it's then, advisers say, we

can begin to look at easing restrictions and reopening schools. these are hard-won gains. the goal is in the meanwhile to keep these other variants like the south africa variant out of the country with really tough travel rules and really tough guidance from the government. >> thanks so much, selma in london. i want to go over the channel to melissa in paris. melissa, give us a sense of what's happening where you are. >> reporter: europe is seeing something similar to the united kingdom, a stabilizing of kiko individual 19 indicators. in germany, for instance, a country so hard hit by the second wave, with much stricter lockdowns than we saw during the first, we now know for the first time since late october, the infection rate per 100,000 people is at its lowest level. it's taken that long for the restrictions to take their effect. infection rates falling or stabilizing, but icus remain

heavily overburdened. we're looking at restrictions being eased in some countries, children going back to school in denmark, for instance, italy lowering most of its restrictions in 20 regions. and yet countries keeping a very close eye, just as uk is, on other variants. for instance, the one first identified in the united kingdom represents 6% of infections in germany. in france, epidemiologists are warning if left unchecked, that new variant could be dominant by the month of march. so european countries looking at lifting restrictions, encouraged by what they're seeing in terms of infection rates, but keeping close eye on variants that could yet get the better of them and their attempts to ease some of those restrictions. >> thanks so much, melissa in paris, selma in london. protesters refusing to bow down after a military coup in myanmar. coming up, part of my interview with a former u.s. ambassador to the country. what he says the u.s. needs to do about sanctions.

health experts around the world are coming up with creative schemes to get vaccinations to people who need them. we'll show you a few after the break.

welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. thanks for joining me. i'm robyn curnow and it is 26 minutes past the hour. we're tracking outrage and action today on the streets of myanmar, take a look. thousands of protesters out in force again to denounce last monday's military coup. they're defying the country's

powerful generals and demanding a swift return to civilian rule. for the latest, selena wang in tokyo monitoring everything that's been going on. certainly a lot more people on the streets today. >> reporter: witnesses tell us that the demonstrators today are substantially larger and more organized than yesterday's. in fact, reuters is estimating the people in the streets number more than tens of thousands. we are seeing crowds of mostly young people chanting for democracy, for the fall of the dictatorship, holding banners with aung san suu kyi's image saying, we want our leader. these protests are largely peaceful. we've seen the crowds try to avoid any of the roadblocks as well as avoid any direct confrontation with the police. according to net blocks, just minutes ago there has been partial restoration of internet connectivity, but earlier, because of that blackout communication as well as coverage of this protest has been significantly hampered. we learned that protesters have been largely organizing through

word of mouth, through sms texting, as well as through phone calls. for more than 50 years, myanmar had been ruled by military regime that brutally stifled dissent, that plunged the country into poverty. but about six years ago, there had been hope when aung san suu kyi had won the election by a landslide, forming the first civilian government. but now the people of myanmar are worried that history is repeating itself. even though aung san suu kyi has fallen from grace internationally over her rejection of accusations of genocide over her failure to condemn the rohingya crisis, internally, domestically at home, she still has widespread supp support. >> when we talk about support and pressure, there has been some international pressure, do you think it's going to make any difference? >> reporter: that's a great question. there has been this widespread international condemnation. the threat of sanctions, including from the biden administration.

but experts say that is not likely to deter or to bother the military regime, given that this country has endured sanctions before. experts say the challenge here is that a targeted sanction would likely have a limited impact, but a broader one could risk harming the people in myanmar. of course, there's also a big fear here of a further crackdown on journalists, on critics, on human rights activists. in fact, a human rights group in myanmar estimates at least 133 government officials and 14 activists have already been detained as of monday. >> selena wang, thanks so much for that update. we'll check in with you if anything else happens. you're watching cnn. former u.s. ambassador to myanmar, derek mitchell, joins me from national, also president of the democratic national institute. ambassador, thanks for joining us. you spent a lot of time in myanmar. as you watch what's happening on the streets now, what do you make of these protests?

>> it's steadily escalated there. it doesn't surprise me that people are going to pushback. these are very proud people, very strong and thoughtful, a lot of young people on the streets. it's encouraging, it's inspiring, but it also fills you with some dread if you know what happens in burmese history, that street demonstrations have led to violence. i pray that it doesn't happen again. but i think it's inevitable that people will be pushing back against this coup that i think touches the hearts of everyone. >> what is china's role in all of this? and particularly in the aftermath, in what happens next. i know that the generals, the myanmar generals, and the chinese are not natural bed partners, but what kind of leverage does china have right now going forward as well? >> well, they have leverage in the sense that they have enormous business interests and a lot of investment there.

but as you say, the generals don't particularly like the chinese. they don't like any external influence on their internal affairs. they're very, very proud. but when it comes -- they could have some leverage if they chose to use it. it would be wonderful if this were ability for the u.s. and china to work together on something like this. but the chinese see myanmar, burma, as their sphere of influence. they don't want the united states, any western power, near their border or having influence there. they talk about not being involved in internal affairs, of course, they do get involved in internal affairs. sometimes they see these things as an opportunity. because there will be alienation from the democratic countries of the world, that means that the military would have to turn to china to support it internationally. that gives china enormous leverage. so they may see an opportunity, but i'm sure they're watching very closely given their historically bad relationship with the military and the good relationship that they had formed with the nld, aung san

suu kyi's party. >> are there any lessons learned from the past that the u.s. in particular, the biden administration, should not repeat? how should they deal with what is going on? we've had tweets from the embassy on the ground, we've obviously had some response. what next there? >> i don't know about lessons learned. we want to distinguish between the people of the country and those who perpetrated this, the military. i think there's a recognition that the old days of sanctions, which were blanket sanctions that isolated the country, that that may not be the best way to go now. that you really want to target this carefully, but not hurt the economy or hurt the people. i think that's a very strong lesson that many have taken. >> former ambassador, u.s. ambassador to myanmar, really appreciate you joining me, derek mitchell, thanks for your perspective. health officials in california say they are closing in on administering 4.5 million

doses of covid vaccines. paul vercammen went to one site in los angeles county where demand is far greater than supply. >> reporter: the important heavy lifting of putting needles into arms here in los angeles and getting people their first covid vaccines continued. for one 93-year-old man, he was euphoric to be out of the house for the first time since march. >> it's like a different world. i haven't been out, out of my backyard or the house, since covid started. >> reporter: also out here at the inglewood forum helping people through the vaccination process, dr. barbara ferrer, head of l.a. county public health. she says it is a monumental task to get people vaccinated in this county, but there are just not enough doses available. >> the heartache right now, so many people want to get

vaccinated. this site here could accommodate easily 4,000 people getting vaccinated a day. really, 4,000 cars. and we just don't have vaccine. today we were only able to release 1,100 appointments. >> reporter: so they administered only 1,100 vaccines. that means late in the day, they had to turn away some people who had appointments. as for the super bowl, dr. ferrer flatly advising it's a bad idea to hold a party and mix things up with people from other households. reporting from inglewood, i'm paul vercammen, back to you now. >> thanks, paul, for that. not every community has access to a world-class sports stadium. authorities are thinking up creative ways to get doses to people. in rural france, there's a vaccine bus. in sweden, a nobel prize banquet hall is being repurposed. take a look at some of the unusual places people are getting their shots. >> reporter: all aboard this bus in france.

seniors taking their seats inside, aren't going on a trip, but they are taking a big step in protecting themselves from the coronavirus by getting vaccinated. many residents in this rural town don't have the means to travel to bigger cities to get inoculated. so through an initiative by the local government, this mobile vaccination site came to them. >> translator: it's a very good initiative to have done this with the bus, because i wouldn't have got vaccinated right now, i would have waited, because i would have had to go to the nearest big city. >> reporter: the vacci-bus is one idea to get it easier for people to get the shots needed to help slow the transmission of the coronavirus. another incentive is to transform large places that people already go to in their communities into makeshift vaccination centers, like cathedrals, department stores, and cinemas. >> it's nice and open. plenty of space for everybody. good idea to use it. pity a film's not put on.

>> reporter: even some of the grandest places in the world are doing double duty, like sweden's nobel prize banquet hall. in previous years the scene of black tie galas packed with patrons, its purpose now more humble but no less important. >> we have this amazing place that is empty right now, but is also the citizens' house, i feel. we should use it. >> reporter: using it is just what people are doing around the world. from this parking lot at disneyland to fenway park, home of the red sox, to lord's cricket ground in the uk. where empty spaces that once filled us with joy now fill us with hope. chinese new year 2021 will look very different compared to prepandemic spring festivals. the holiday that was a mass travel superspreading event last year is significantly scaled back this year. but as david culvinnar shows us,

some in china are still getting into the spirit of the season. >> reporter: strolling the aisles of a shanghai grocery store, vicki wong is stocking up ahead of the most important holiday in china, the chinese new year, or spring festival. traditionally, the holiday marks the largest mass migration of humans each year. in china, major cities empty out as hundreds of millions travel back to their home provinces. but last year's outbreak in wuhan coincided with the start of the chinese new year and made for a perfect storm. packed train stations like this one in beijing combined with a rapidly spreading virus. this year, the government urging, in some cases even ordering people, not to travel. wong is among the millions sacrificing precious time with family this holiday following government guidance to stay put. >> we have to make a little bit of sacrifice for everyone to keep us safe.

>> reporter: while china's touted its strict and seemingly effective containment efforts, recent cluster outbreaks have resulted in the government's travel restrictions. already in the first three days of the annual travel rush, passenger rail trips plummeted more than 70%. the normally packed train stations are now eerily empty. it seems many are following the government's suggestion to not travel. some state-owned companies are even paying their employees a few hundred dollars, encouraging them not to return to their hometown, instead to use the holiday time to explore the cities in which they live and work. >> the staycation is really popular. >> reporter: jane sun is ceo of china's largest online travel agency, trip.com. she points out while flight and train tickets within china are down compared with years past, hotels are benefiting from the staycation effect. >> we're able to ask the hotels to come up with creative

packages for the families, for their children, so that our customers who used to travel abroad can spend their time with their family within the same cities. >> reporter: but some are still determined to travel home. by video chat, we spoke with 21-year-old dan dee, not his real name, as he doesn't want to get in trouble for criticizing the government. he wrapped up 21 days of quarantine, which included heavy surveillance outside his front door, all to travel home for the chinese new year which he says is deeply personal for migrant workers. >> the spring festival is the only chance for them to go home to stay with their family. that's why i think they go home. >> this is good. it means, travel space, and good luck. >> reporter: as for those who choose to stay, like wong, they're still finding ways to celebrate.

asking her parents and sister over video chat for their advice on cooking the chinese new year dinner, a meal she and millions of others will eat separated from loved ones, as china works to halt a decades-long tradition of mass migration, so as to prevent a repeat of last year's rapid spread of the virus. david culver, cnn, shanghai. millions of people in the u.s. are facing dangerously cold temperatures this weekend, from the midwest to the south and the northeast. arctic weather is covering much of the country. the latest in a live forecast next. lush and it's building up in your septic tank. but monthly usage e of rid-x is scientifically proven to break down waste. maintain your septic tank with rid-x.

across the u.s., more than 20 million people will be making up to bitterly cold weather. winter storm warnings in effect. windchills could plunge to minus 50 degrees fahrenheit, minus 46

degrees celsius, you could catch frostbite in 10 minutes. derek, give us an update. >> winter's grip holding on to north america at the moment, specifically the east coast of the u.s. where we have several million people under winter storm warnings thanks to another nor'easter. different to the one that impacted the region earlier this workweek or last workweek. monday they had a snowstorm that brought over 30 inches of snow to central new jersey. that won't be the case with this one. however, still disruptive snowfall anticipated with the potential for 6 to 8 inches of fresh fallen snow for new york city. locally higher amounts just outside of the big apple. towards boston, 4 to 6 inches for you. the nation's capital, 1 to 3. so this will impact travel conditions over this area. blowing and drifting of snow as the storm slides along the coastline. basically perpendicular or

adjacent to the coastline and they've just recently dug out from the previous nor'easter. behind it, an arctic blast of air from the great plains to the northern lakes traveling south and east. the temperature, that's what it feels like outside. international falls, minnesota, that is incredible. negative 44. that is cold enough to start to solidify the antifreeze within your vehicle. very, very chilly conditions. the arctic chill is going to stick around for the next foreseeable future. this same storm system bringing the nor'easter to the east coast has a trailing cold front moving across central florida right now. i bring this up because this is tampa, right where the scene for the current super bowl will take place at 6:30 this evening. the storm's projected to move through the area within the coming hours, clear out just in time for that kickoff, and we'll dry things out quickly in tampa bay with that open-air raymond

james stadium where the super bowl is taking place. >> thanks, derek van dam. the nfl will celebrate the end of a successful season at the super bowl. how did the league keep the coronavirus at bay? cnn's dr. sanjay gupta tells us next.

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the fact that we've been able to invite 7,500 vaccinated health care workers to be our guests, get free tickets to the game. two goals there, just to thank and celebrate those people who have been on the front lines and will continue to be. >> the national football league's executive vp there on plans to honor health care workers today at the super bowl. the tampa bay buccaneers take on the kansas city chiefs in the big game. cnn sports corey wire with more now on an unprecedented season. >> it's certainly the most unusual super bowl we've ever seen. both teams normally arriving a week ahead of time to get adjusted, not during a pandemic. the chiefs arriving a day before the game, another example of the audibles that had to be called during a pandemic. the players i've spoken to

didn't think there was any way this season would make it, but strict protocols and discipline to follow them all added up and here we are. there will be about 30,000 cardboard cutout fans acting as social distancing barriers for real fans about 25,000 of them. about one-third will be vaccinated health care workers, heroes invited here by the nfl. i spauk to one, belinda spann, critical care nurse, i asked what went through her find when she found out she would be going to the super bowl. >> the moment when you think, this is awesome. and it is, it's like a dream come true to go to a super bowl. and yet it never would have happened if this monster hadn't descended upon us. i would sit in my living room cheering the bucs on if we could turn back time and not have this pandemic. >> belinda spahn leads about 30 to 40 nurses and her team is as tough as any that will be

playing in that super bowl. she said she's learned so much about the human spirit through all this, how resilient we are, how much we can accomplish when we work together. she says they have huddles every day, they go over their game plan, their mantra is "everything is possible." whatever happens at the super bowl, nfl has reason to celebrate. it completed a full season in the midst of a pandemic, something no other sport has actually been able to do. how did the nfl do it and what can we learn? here's dr. sanjay gupta with more on that. >> reporter: this is a sport defined by close contact. an environment ripe for transmission. >> there's other people who say, it's absolutely ludicrous to even try this. what do you say to them? >> i feel it's the right thing to do to try to live with this virus, i really do. >> reporter: dr. alan sills is the chief medical office for the nfl. he was brought in as a

neurosurgeon who thought he'd be dealing with concussions. then the pandemic changed everything. i initially met up with him at the beginning of the season. >> we just have to recognize we're dealing with an unpredictable pandemic, so we'll have to adjust along the way. >> reporter: on september 10th, the kansas city chiefs kicked off against the houston texans. in the first game of the season. at the time, there were more than 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the united states. now, right before the super bowl, how did things go? >> i think what we've tried to do at every step is make the best and safest decisions we can, and we've tried to evolve and learn along the way. >> reporter: while cases around the country exploded, now at more than 26 million confirmed, the nfl was relatively untouched, positivity rate of .08%. what worked for the nfl, and what can we all learn from it? >> we had an outbreak in tennessee. when we dug into that, tried to

understand how did transmission occur despite protocols, we realized it wasn't 6 feet and 15 minutes. >> reporter: it wasn't the playing or the practices that were the largest concern. but these three things. eating, greeting, and meeting. >> meeting inside. even if you're more than 6 feet apart, if you're in a poorly convenient lated room for a long period of time, if someone's positive, there can be transmission inside those rooms. eating together, very high-risk activity. most people don't have a mask on when they're eating. the greeting part, social interactions outside the facilities. when you interact in the community, if someone's positive, and you get a haircut, have a massage at your house. >> reporter: how did the nfl know? they tested daily. they contact traced and tracked the movements of more than 11,000 players and staff. even alerting them if they were too close to one another. >> if we moved closer together than six feet, you'll see it blinking red. >> reporter: keep in mind, the cdc defines close contact like

this. being within six feet of an infected person for cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. but the league's data found transmission was occurring with less time and more distance. these are considerations for anyone, anywhere, to assess their risk. ventilation. are you indoors or outdoors? are you in a car with the windows up? or are you in a large, open stadium? the more air circulation, the better. masks. what kind of masks are being used? do they fit correctly? finally, time and distance. the longer and closer you are around someone, the increased risk for transmission. >> if you're failing in two or more of those categories, that's what we consider a high-risk close contact. i think the biggest thing we learned, universal masking works. it's the most effective strategy that we have. >> how hard would it be to replicate what you were able to do at the nfl? >> it wasn't the fact that we

tested every single day. it wasn't the fact that everyone wore a fancy proximity tracking device everywhere they went. what prevented transmission was mask usage. avoiding in-person meetings. staying in the open-air environments. not eating together. prompt symptom reporting. isolation of anybody that's exposed. >> the same basic rules we have known since the beginning of this pandemic. with more evidence than ever that they actually work. so who are you rooting for? >> we love all our children. >> what's the deal with tom brady? just as a sports medicine guy. i mean, really? super bowl again? >> i think his career's been amazing and outstanding and he's an inspiration to all of us. you know, the closer he gets in age to me, i have thoughts, maybe i've still got a run at it. >> thanks to sanjay for that story. now, a dolphin named nicholas, of course, at the clearwater marine aquarium in florida has predicted the winner

of the super bowl. it's not the bucs in next door, neighboring tampa. take a look. >> all right, nicholas has made his choice! and it looks like nicholas is predicting the kansas city chiefs to win the big game this year. >> nicholas, trainers say the 18-year-old dolphin also correctly predicted the chiefs' win in last year's super bowl and is on a six-event winning streak. that wraps up this hour of cnn. i'm robyn curnow. thanks for joining me wherever you are in the world. i'm going to hand over to my colleague kim.

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