year's eve edition of cnn newsroom. we're currently getting be a up date from colorado's governor on the fast moving wildfires that destroyed several suburban county homes. >> actually given the events that we had yesterday pretty miraculous. we were fortunate that the winds dissipated last night. we're expecting snow today. that snow has already started. we're hoping to see three to six inches of snow and some good moisture. that's certainly going to help our efforts. this morning governor polis, myself and others flew over the area to assess the damage. we know there are approximately 2,000 homes in the burnt area. we certainly did not lose 2,000 homes. we did see entire subdivisions as i talked about last night, the west side of superior, parts of superior that are totally gone that. accounts easily for 500 homes.

west of superior out towards marshall and the springs area, we saw dozens of burned-out homes. the south side of lewisville suffered from pretty catastrophic losses as well, dozens of homes. damage assessment is continuing today. we won't have final numbers until late tonight or tomorrow, but we're fully expecting this to be 500 or more homes that were lost. the fire burnt in an interesting dynamic with mosaics. you can see how the wind and the topography devastated some neighborhoods and blocks and left some neighborhoods standing intact. i know residents want to get back to their homes as soon as possible to assess damage. in many of those neighborhoods that are currently blocked off, it's still it a downing rouse to

return, we saw active for you and we saw downed power lines. as soon residents are able to mitigate we will let them back. we don't want to keep people out of their neighborhoods or hopes. last night there was a boil water announced for the town of lewisville, city of lewisville that. now extends to the town of superior. the issue is water pressure was lost in those communities and so water is potentially contaminated, even domestic water, and it will need to be boiled in those areas, in the southern part of the county around louisville, superior and in superior. i want to stress that all of the trail heads east of i-93 and the chasm to the south are closed. stay out of that area. we still will have --.

we appreciate it but please do not self-deploy to the areas and for those who want to volunteer visit colorado responds.org. if you want to make donations go to our website at boulderoem.com. there are retails on how to make donations and how to register and be available through the red cross or the community foundation of boulder county. we have a community call center established. this call center has information concerning the fire's impact on boulder county and can be reached at 303-413-7730. 303-413-7730. again, we ask if you have general questions about the fire, your neighborhoods, road closures, please call the call center. do not call 911.

i'm going to turn it over to governor polis now. thank you. >> thank you, sheriff pelly. just moments ago we did afternoon aerial reconnaissance mission thanks to the natural. we were able to to it in the brief bip before the snow and how grateful we had the snow has started. some areas we were locking at the neighborhood level devastation. the sheriff indicated that pause of the nature of the fire spread by gusts of up to 105 miles per hour, it would spread otherary house, very unusual burn pattern and the other unusual fact zor

in the bling of a dwri in -- over ghors half a day. many families have minutes, whatever they could, they are puts, their kids into the car to heave. the last 24 yoirts have been dover stating. it's hard to think about, like from many boulder county residents i have texts from friends and i also spoke to the president in. the president gave -- the president approved the major declaration declaration and that will allow those who suffered loss, small business owners and homeowners they won't have to

wait for the preliminary damage assessment for housing and small businesses so that will be forthcoming very soon because of this disaster and the actions that the president took and the president send his regards to the people of colorado and those who are directly impacted. this hit close to home for so many of us. literally in some cases for those of us who live nearby, but also in terms of this being a fire that wasn't a wildfire in the forest. it was a suburban and urban fire. the costco we all shop at, the target we buy our kids' clothes at, all surrounded and damaged. nearly a thousand homes in two very tight-knit beautiful communities in our state are gone. you know, we talk about become.

it's a sanctuary of comfort for those who live there. it's a reservoir of memories where families were raised. you know, it feels like we've experienced enough loss and tragedy these last two years, and then yesterday happened over the course of several hours. this is our community, and to watch it burn so quickly, so unexpectedly, something that i think we're all just struggling to believe and understand. so different than fires that over a period of weeks and months develop. this played out with so 105-mile-per-hour winds over the course of half a day. we are going to work hard with families and small businesses to rebuild our treasured communities, homes and sanctuaries for folks and short-term impact for housing needs. show far it looks like the two major hospitals in the area why

were smaerd. it looks like -- and we may have had a christmas if miracle. it's really quite a testimony to preparedness rand emergency response. i also spoke to the theme leak straegs that with the expedited disaster we talked about additional ways that she use help the and thement -- the hospital be out of commission for a certain period of days or weeks and it's unshower when it will be back at 100% capacity. >> mr. rogers used to tell us as a boy, look for the helpers,

you'll always find people pm. the sheriff rapid hips department, the nafrm and the many of the brave men and women in fire and plus lost their homes themselves, but they stayed on the job and on behalf of the grateful state of colorado we want to say a profound thank you to everyone who has helped. now i'm going say a few words in spanish. [ speaking spanish ] you've been listening to the governor of colorado as well as the county sheriff giving the latest update on the marshall fire, an extraordinary fast-moving fire that the governor referred to as a disaster in fast motion. the last 24 hours have been

devastating. at this point in time according to the sheriff and governor there's been no recorded loss of life. something that the governor says if it's proven out to be the case after all the analysis is done it would be their own new year's miracle if there is no loss of life. i want to go straight to cnn's natasha chen who has been covering this story. natasha, the thing that stood out more than anything when you heard the governor talk about the nearly 1,000 homes lost was the speed over which this occurred over a several hour period yesterday. >> reporter: yes, phil. these were hurricane force winds puck lick through neighborhoods. mogge those types of winds just bringing flames, you know, hitting one house after the next. we were in lewisville this morning taking a look at some of the burned out neighborhoods, and you can tell how precarious those winds were, because we'd see one lot that still had a hot spot and a flame going through it and the one next to it would

still be fine so a very precare kwlous situation as the governor was saying, and some of the video people took on their february noam was the fact that we saw them ducking from debris and ash raining on them, and when they got into their cars it was very difficult to see. there was no visibility. it was hazy, like an orange sky real hindering their ability to get out of their safely, so as he said, as you mentioned. if there really is no loss of life that is going to be a miracle. the good news is what you're seeing right in front of me right now. it is snowing, and that's what the authorities were talking about, bring some of that much-need a moisture and hoping to make the situation a lot better very quickly. phil? >> yeah. natasha chen.

people had mere minutes to get out. loss of life, a mere miracle indeed. president joe biden had called him and given verbal approval to a major disaster declaration on the ground, thanks for that reporting and please keep us posted. >> coming, the omicron surge collides with new year's. the big ball drop is still happening against doctors' advice. we're live in times square coming up next. it's a personal trainer that assesses your strength and adds weight as you progress. it's dynamic weight that adjusts for you in real time for a more efficient workout. c'mom and it's a roster of coaches that motivate you to get stronger, faster. the future is strength you can feel and results you can see. and you can only experience it... (sigh) ...on tonal. i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and it's the first and only

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tonight we enter the new year and a new phase in the pandemic. hospitalizations among kids continue to climb. infections are at record highs and now the faa warning the solution is so dire. the situation is so dire flights may need to be cancelled because of an increased number of employees that have covid. the timing couldn't be much

worse. new york city is still holding a scaled down new year's eve ball drop ignoring doctors' warnings against having big parties. paolo sandoval is standing by there now. officials over the last 48 hours have had to defend the decision to let a scaled back version of this condition. what are they saying right now? >> well, you know, phil, amid this record-breaking rise of new covid cases just in new york state alone, we heard from mayor bill de blasio basically say that the show will go on, that the message they want to send the rest seaworld that new york is still open and can actually fight through this latest wave, all it be with certain measures being taken, and we rex pecting to see some of those measures on display here in times square later tonight. what are they? they certainly include a massive reduction in the number of people who will be allowed to come here to watch live as that ball drops. you're talking no more than 15,000 people versus the usual 58,000 people. the hope there is that that can

allow for at least some social distancing, plus it also limits the time of potential exposure here with folks not allowed in until at least 3:00 p.m. this afternoon versus what we've seen in the past, and then also everybody who comes here will have to be fully vaccinated and will have to wear a mask once the show gets started so it really speaks, phil, to these kinds of steps that we've seen by the city as it defends its decision to proceed with this party amid criticism and a growing call for them to cancel this event. in fact, we heard from dr. reiner on cnn earlier today who says that holding a massive party even with masked individuals outdoors still seems, to use his word, unwise, but when you hear from city officials, phil, they maintain that with all the steps that are taken it cannot just be a happy and potentially healthy new year. at least that's what they hope. >> that's what they home. the show going on. at least scaled back. thanks so much. joining me now is professor of infectious diseases at

vanderbilt university medical center. doctor, i would start right there. should large groups of people be gathering for new year's at all at this point? >> phil, if they are going to do it, do it the way paolo suggests, very low concentration of people, everybody vaccinated, everybody masked. keeping your distance, do it outdoors. i think that risk is going to be very, very low. i think we're at a point where we're not are all ready to stay at home completely but if we celebrate carefully we can do it at very, very low risk and i hope usher in the new year with joy safely. >> that sounds good to me. >> i want to parlay that into trying to grab on to some maybe good news that we've been seeing over the course of the last 24 hours or so where south africa says it's already passed its peak in omicron cases no. major spike in deaths. one official calling it a flash flood rather than a wave. look, i get that it's not an apples-to-apples comparison to

south africa in the united states to the population, but what does this mean but what are you reading into that for what it may mean for the u.s.? >> well, i've got my fingers crossed. what i mean it means is that in the united states something similar might happen. omicron rushes in, infects a whole lot of people very quickly and then as we say in epidemiology exhausts the susceptibles and then goes down, and if we keep vaccinating people so that we make sure that if they do get infected they won't require hospitalization, well, those two things together could bring in a fairly good first quarter in 2022. >> here's hoping to that, and in the near term, at least in the next couple of weeks, everybody has been talking masking at this point in time. is it time for the idea of cloth masks to just be tossed out all together. surgical masks, n-59s. anything else is kind of a waste of time?

>> well, i think cloth masks that are thick two and three layers really continue to provide good protection, and we have to remind people, first of all, to use those masks and, second, to use them up above the nose. you know, down here, that doesn't count. so i think masking, social distancing, i think we can weather this next storm. we will have some tough times because of all the travel and the wonderful celebrations we've had over the holidays. we're going to continue to see an uptick in cases, but after that, i hope things go down as long as we keep vaccinated. those children, everybody who is eligible for boosters and maybe we can get some of those folks who have been stubbornly resisting vaccination in to the greater group that's accepting vaccine. >> on that last point. you heard that there was news that the fda was set to expand access to booster shots for

younger teenagers soon, tiger woods the age of 12 and 15, a lower vaccination percentage or lower than what federal officials want. what kind of effect do you think boosters will have that on that? >> well, i think the boosters will help solidify the protection among children, and i know that all the pediatricians and family doctors out there are saying if you have any questions about the safety and effectiveness of vaccinating your child, come see me because those pediatricians and family docs are ready to give good comforting advice. you don't have to listen to bill. listen to the person who takes care of your child. >> yeah. seems to be a good place to go for everything. william schaffner, as always, we appreciate, it sir. >> thank you. what about the impact of all of this on kid and particularly their mental health? the biden administration warning parents about a pandemic mental health crisis among our children. it's something i want to discuss right now with former american

medical association president dr. patrice harris, a pediatric psychiatrist and co-founder of e-med. dr. hey, i've got three kid and i've been blown away how well they have acclimated at least publicly to the last two years but we all live in persistent fear to what this is doing to them long term. do you agree with what some administration officials said that there's an epidemic of mental health challenges among children right now? >> we have certainly seen an increase in reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, an increase in thinking about no longer wanting to live in our young children adolescents, and i want to make shower that that is on the foundation of decades long increase in those symptoms, so i'm really worried. this has been a really tough time for all of us, but more importantly for all of our

chirp. as you note, your children have been able to weather this i'm sure with wonderful support from you and so children are resilient. we are resilient, but we can't just sit back and wonder if and when that might happen or who may be resilient. we have to be prepared. just as we weren't prepared for this pandemic, i'm worried though that we are not prepared for the increase mental health need, okay, over baseline after this, and so my -- my charge to everyone is that we have to make sure that our services and our systems to support our children really all mental health needs is in place before we actually need them. >> i think that's probably my biggest question day to day, we are all concerned about our kids, a and i think a lot in quiet moments about what the long-term impact will be of these the last two years. what's your sense of what the direction of the long-term

impact will be? >> well, it's a worry, because this has been traumity, and we talk a lot about acute distress disorder and post traumatic stress disorder, and so what we should be doing right now is putting services in place. i encourage parents to talk with their children, be open to listen, to do things such as minimize the amounts of time listening to sometimes the news or doom controlling as we all do and try to maintain those connections and don't wait until symptoms start. again, we need a very proactive system coming out of this pandemic so that we don't have the tsunami that some people think that we might have. >> i want you to take a listen to something that the surgeon general said recently. >> when there's a terrible stigma around mental health

surrounding our children and adults as well and many share the struggle but they are not sure they can ask for helps. >> the willingness to discuss this hasn't been all the way though there's been a shift. what is your advice to parents who are struggling and kids who are trying to put on a tough face for their parents and other adults? >> you know, there has been a societal shift, and i think we have to thank our younger generations for that because they have been much more willing to talk about that, but as you know, it's not universal in some communities, particularly communities of color, there's still a lot of stigma and people think if you have issues with anxiety or depression it's a moral failing, and so we also have to make sure that we normalize talking about these feelings, and i encourage parents to do that on a routine basis. don't kite that there are issues

but they need to know they can talk about feeling of sadness and feelings of isolation and no longer want to live. for some folks it's scary and talking about it won't cause it but it might prevent worst outcomes. we should also note that we are weathering a tougher phase of the storm right now, but we are not where we were last year, so we're making progress. i think it's always appropriate to give our younger folks hope, but also let them know that it is okay not to be okay, and they can share these feelings, and then it's on us as a society to make sure that there's funding and services available. >> yeah. don't let this disappear when things guest better all of a sudden. this is clearly going to stick around. doctor, thanks so much for your time. i really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. happy new year. >> you as well. coming up next, a 50-minute phone call ends with probably some more uncertainty. the threats and warnings issued

during the last conversation between president biden and putin.

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if you were rooking for a reset you won't find one here or at least on the phone and the second conversation between president joe biden and russia's vladimir putin. it produced no concrete progress, and in the 50-minute call, biden outlined what american officials called dire

economic consequences for russia should putin move troops into ukraine. putin issued a warning of his own, that any sanctions would cause a, quote, complete rupture of the already frayed u.s.-russia relationship. joining me is staff writer for the "new yorker" susan glasser. i was struck heading into the call u.s. officials weren't totally sure what the intent was. it seemed in the wake of the call it was kind of laying the groundwork for the diplomatic talks to come in the second week of january. what is kind of the shape of that landscape right now? >> well, that is an excellent question. you know, in the russian system, right, putin is the one and only decider so he's all about the leader-to-leader interactions and that's part of this temper tantrum. remember, this is a manufactured crisis by vladimir putin. there was no imminent decision by nato to admit ukraine. it's an absolute pretext. if it wasn't nato it would be another pretext because putin

has made it clear in recent month that he's eager in revising basically the terms under which the soviet union broke up 30 years ago this week, and so one question is really impossible to answer which is what is inside putin's mind, but i was struck by the very belligerent tone of the russian public messaging after the phone call. their readout is very different than the biden white house readout of the call, and it says basically that putin threatened joe biden and said if you do anything in response to my military buildup or possible invasion, then there will be a rupture, so not only is putin essentially demanding the right to invade had a neighboring country and saying if you respond to that you're the one to blame. was this call or moment pre-text to an inchristian or had a pre-tax to try to achieve something diplomatic from the

u.s. and from nato. >> one of the big i think problems right now, putin is saying what he's want, what he's demanding is not within the u.s. power or joe biden owes power to give. there's really a mismatch of having an enormous invasion force on the border of ukraine unless you negotiate this complicated long-term security treaty with me, not the kind of thing that happens in a short period of time. he's demanding concessions that are literally never going to happen, that nato would never be operating in any country in the sphere of what russia considers it influence and so what worries me and what makes a military threat seem possibly imminent here is the fact that it's hard to see how one could even accede to any of putin's demands. how do you get to yes when the demands are so unreasonable. >> and they have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes the last couple of weeks.

nobody is totally sure if they can thread that needle, if they can. susan glasser, i know your report will go tell us if they can over the courts of the next couple of weeks. thanks very much and happy new year. >> thank you, happy new year. lawmakers return next week with a lengthy to-do list as mid--term elections loom. we'll talk to one democrat about the plan for 202 after the break. ♪ and i'm gonna keep on lovin' you, ♪ ♪ 'cause it's the only thing i wanna do. ♪ turns out everyone does sound better in the shower. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. ♪ 'cause it's the only thing i wanna do ♪ shaq: (singing in background) can't unhear that. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - make the right call and go with the general.

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how do we win over senator joe manchin's vote in the west virginia senator dealt what looked at the time a death blow to the president's spending bill but there's hope that they can revive negotiations over the $1.7 trillion package. here with her insights is democratic congresswoman from georgia, carolyn burdeau. you weren't rushing. there were a lot of senator manchin's concerns involved as well. he's not there yet, what's your sense of how to get him there and get him across the finish line? >> good to be on with you. i just think we'll have to go back in january. we have to dust ourselves off, get back up and just go back to the negotiating table. there's plenty of room to negotiate, and i just think that this is a real priority for everybody. we can call it something

different. we can reframe it and change some of the policies, but really the things like health care, child care and climate change, those are all real priorities for all of us and we need to find a way to get those done. >> one of the things that we've been trying to figure out all in our amateur kind of frame to put together, how do you find a bill that works to some degree and what you mentioned, the expansion of the affordable care act, the medicare expansion gap or things that i think the senator supports, climb. he's got climate provisions in there and universal pre-k. one thing he doesn't have is an expansion of the child tax credit, for a year or longer. is that something that you'd be willing to be okay with dropping in order to move this forward? >> well, health care really is a top priority. i would not be happy about dropping the child tax cut but, you know, i want to get some stuff done and we have a lot of really important things in this bill. one of the main things i ran on and really important to people

in this district is affordable quality health care, and what we've got in that bill right now would really deliver on that promise, and so i'm very committed to that. i do think that there are ways that recan reframe the child tax credit to really target it more at people who are in need. it's done an incredible job at reducing child poverty. i think we can cut the price tag but still meet the same goals. >> more broadly, i think one of the concerns when i talk to your colleagues is if you're still negotiating and haggling in january or february or further and you're not talking about what you've done in the first year in corporation and obviously that brings up concerns heading into a mid-term year. you know, a lot of people are saying democrats face a very challenging mid-term landscape. do you see a possibility that the democrats maintain control of the house after the mid terms? >> absolutely i do, and i think one of the things we've seen is redistricting has not been as bad as we thought but we do need to get our messaging straightened out and make sure that we're really focussing on delivering these needs that

we've been talking about for a long, long time, and would i like to see this bill get done in pretty short order. ideally in the first quarter of this year, but the things that are in that bill are things that we have run on. again, that's an affordable quality health care, universal pre-k. wouldn't it be amazing had we had that in this country and making a significant down payment on climate change. i think those are resonant messages and we can get them done and get it out in front of the american people. >> yeah, it's been the big thing that everyone wants to do. just need to get it over the finish line. i want to ask you before you go because this has been one of the hot political issues. you're now facing a congresswoman from lucy mcbath. it's redistricting and the lines have been rewritten. you two both flip districts. 60% of the voters in your new district will be your current voters so you have a majority of constituents in this new district. jim clyburn hosted a fund-raiser and is splitting the caucus a

little bit. does it worry you right now how this kind of plays out and where national democrats end up siding in the next couple of months? >> you know, this is one of these things where you can't get bogged down in the punditry and talking about it. i've focused ever since i've run for office ever since i've been elected on what people in the seventh district need and we need things like infrastructure, congestion relief. we need health care and we need child care and so my goal going forward is just to focus on those issues and talk to them about how we're connecting the things that the democrats have delivered on with what is going to affect them in their daily lives so i'm just focusing on that right now. >> and there will be plenty to focus on in the next couple of weeks, no doubt about it. congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. >> great to be here. >> all right. a scaled-back celebration is happening in times square tonight. anyone who wants to be there will have to wear a mask and show that they are fully vaccinated. was made possible by what you don't see.

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co covid cases. it will be 15,000 revelers, about one-fourth and everyone will have to show proof of vaccination and wear a mark of. i'm joined by the president of the times square alliance tom harris. i'm interested in the calculation here because there were some calling for the event to be cancelled. what made you guys to decide with the mitigation efforts in place you could move forward here? >> well, first, thank you very much for having me. we felt that it was important to show the world that we have moved a little bit forward in our recovery from this pandemic. last year we had very few people. some honored guests in times square. that was before vaccinations. that was before the expanded testing that we have now. in new york city our schools are open, our bars are open and our hotels is open. this is an outdoor event, and our public spaces are also open, so at the beginning we thought having a fully vaccinated event

who is the way to proceed. with the uptick in cases we reduced density of the crowd and we're also mandating that people wear masks. we've spoken with medical experts and have some heard from some medical experts that this is a safer way to proceed. >> one of the questions i think a lot of us have had is how do you enforce for 15,000 people the mitigation measures that i think you've put in place and that are critical here? >> so, the new york city police department has perfected a plan over the years of screening revelers as they enter times square. we've added one layer slightly upstream where just before they get screened by the police department we have vaccination checkers that are going to look at their vaccination status and confirm their id and ensure that they have a mark of on. if they don't have a mask, we have masks for them. while they are in the spectator viewing areas we have signage

reminding people to mask up, and if someone is seen without a mask we have masks available and we're going to be encouraging them to put masks on. >> and one of the things i want to ask the ball drop, that's not the only thing happening in times square. eric adams will soon be sworn in as mayor after the clock strikes midnight as if you didn't have enough on your plate. tell us a little bit about what that is going to look like. >> that's exciting. so after the ball drops at midnight and the blizzard of confetti fills times square, we will be swearing in the next mayor of the city of new york, eric adams, and we couldn't be happier. it all begins in times square. all of our new year's begin with watching that ball drop, and we're excited that he's chosen times square to start his -- his four, hopefully eight years in office. >> and one of the critical questions, no matter the year, pandemic aside, what's the weather looking like tonight? is there going to be clear skies? will everybody be able to see

the party that's going to be in place? >> yes, clear skies. it's going to be warm. it's going to be a great night for those who are able to be in times square but it's all a matter of giving people a choice? those who can't be in times square and don't want to be in times square can watch it on our website and they can watch anderson and andy or any of the other networks. it's going to be a great night in times square. >> that was like the perfect segue to the tease that i have coming up. tom harris, a professional in every sense of the word. thanks so much for your time, sir. >> thanks for having me. and as mentioned, you can join anderson cooper for cnn new year's eve live. the party starts at 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. more news though coming up after this quick break. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash... and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs

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welcome to the new year's we've digs of newsroom. i'mful mattingly sitting in for ana cabrera. ♪ that's the city of sydney, australia to bid adieu and my goodness good riddance to the here 2021, another year of pandemic fatigue and frustration. in new york, the iconic times

square celebration is scaled back this year with only about a fourth of the usual crowd being al howard to attend. cities have limited festivities or cancelled them all together and the u.s. ends 2021 like it entered it, with surging covid infections. the u.s. averaging nearly 356,000 cases a day extending the longest streak. the faa may be forced to cancel flights because of their owning crews being sick. pediatric hospital admissions in the u.s. are at record highs. on average 378 children were admitted to the hospital with covid-19 on any given day over the week that ended tuesday. that's a 66% jump from the previous week, but, still, there are glimmers of hope for a better new year. in south africa where the surge is believed to have peaked