fast enough we'll have a challenge. liz: 10 seconds, david, you're the most bullish you've been in three years, yes? >> like 2017. new president, stimulus from the fed and hope for meyer earnings growth. [closing bell rings] we haven't felt so good since the last president came into office. liz: great to have you, david spika, sean, always good to have you. that will do it for "the claman countdown." connell: we're indeed in record territory on wall street. stocks didn't have a great close but we finished mostly higher. fed chair jerome powell talking about stimulus. at the close the dow turned on us. it was hovering near record level but closed down 44 points. s&p falls short of a record if it settles where it is up six 1/2 points but the nasdaq closes at another record high. second straight and a number of records for the nasdaq. they keep coming up by 63 points on the day. more on the markets. the other thing we're keeping a

very close eye on here today is this major winter storm threatening to dump up to two feet of snow in some parts along the east coast t will create yet another challenge for so many business owners who are already dealing with a lot. we'll cover that from a lot of different angles throughout the hour. good to be with you. i'm connell mcshane. welcome to "after the bell." time for the news happening at this hour. our fox business team coverage, blake burman and edward lawrence both in washington today. hillary vaughn in wilmington, gerri willis in new york. blake, start with you, it is a like a replay but are we getting anywhere on the stimulus situation today? reporter: replay indeed, like, connell, seems like they're gets closer and closer and close at this point. we heard from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in last 35, 40 minutes, he said quote, we're still talking and i think we're going to get there. mcconnell and chuck schumer, the top republican and democrat in the senate today took to the

senate floor and i want to you listen to what they both had to say, connell and notice essentially the priorities what they say, what needs to be in a covid relief package are the very same thing. listen. >> we need vaccine distribution money. we need to re-up the paycheck protection program to save jobs. we need to continue to provide for laid off americans. >> this has been about delivering a lifeline to americans who were laid off due to no fault of their own. families struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, small businesses hanging on for dear life. this has been about saving our schools, health care system around delivering the resources to produce and distribute a vaccine that should finally finally help our country turn the corner. reporter: cornell they agree on what they agree on. it is details and hammering that out. they agree on what they disagree on which is liability

protections and how much money should be sent for a robust state and local aid package that will be left up to the next president and the next congress. we heard from president-elect biden today say essentially what they're trying to put together in washington is a quote, unquote, down payment. meaning that hopes they take this up again in 2021 as well, connell. connell: i don't think i heard it explicitly, blake, from mcconnell and schumer but direct payments seemed to be, sending americans a check in the mail like last time around, that seems to have some momentum. might that be included still? reporter: it does have momentum you're right. it was not included in that sound bite there but they're talking about help and relief. we do know at this point they are talking about direct payments to some individuals. the number that i was told earlier this morning, connell, was about $600. we heard the 6 tohundred dollars range. that would be individual.

more for couples and more if you got children as well. that would have a lot of support from democrats. it would have support from republicans there is also a question whether or not that 600-dollar figure or so is enough. watch. >> i think it should be 1200. i think we should do at least what we did in the cares act. listen, working families, they need help. they need support. listen, remember when this started out they were going to get zero, zero. this is good movement in the right direction. i think it needs to be 1200. let's see what they come up with. reporter: how just heard from there is josh hawley a senator a republican by the way. he has been teaming up with senator bernie sanders on this direct payment issue. i can also tell you, connell, president trump over at the white house, he wants to see this get into a deal though as we sit here at 4:04 on the east coast this tuesday afternoon. i should reiterate they're getting closer still though no

deal yet. connell. connell: that is the main point, whatever is in it there is pressure to get it done as quickly as possible, blake. so many americans are feeling the squeeze. people are not spending as much which obviously is not a great sign around the holidays. the latest reading on retail sales show shoppers are pulling back last month. edward lawrence is live in washington now with more on the economy on a day which the federal reserve chairman has been out talking about how we might avoid another downturn. reporter: exactly. federal reserve chairman jerome powell says we have to get through the next six months and then the second half of the year the economy will be on its way to full recovery. the federal reserve projections show the economy picking up speed from a 2.4% contraction this year to gdp growth finishing next year at 2.4%. the slowdown showing in the retail sales numbers dropping 1.1% in november from the prior month. october also revised down to show a small loss.

the federal reserve chairman says we need to do more by congress and more can be done by the fed if necessary. >> now we can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel it, would be bad to see, you know, people losing their business, their life's work in many cases even generations worth of work because they couldn't last another few months which is what it amounts to. we have more we can do and we'll, i think more of the issue is we're going to need to continue to provide support to this economy quite a period of time. reporter: to stablize the markets and boost the economy the fed signaled they would continue buying treasurys and mortgage-backed securities at $120 billion a month without shifting the type of maturities it buys. i spoke exclusively with the former chief economic adviser for president obama, jason furman. he says the economic foundation is there, it just needs a push. >> stimulus is needed four 1/2 months ago but if we can't do it

four 1/2 months ago let's do it as quickly as possible. i think there is some risk of a double-dip recession. that's not my best guess what will happen but certainly the next month or two will be a dark time in the u.s. economy. reporter: fuhrman had conversations with the biden transition team. he says if we do everything right, we can be back to full employment by the beginning of 2022. the federal reserve projections showing unemployment ending at 4.2% in 2022. connell. connell: seem, edward powell would basically agree what fuhrman was talking about there the need for fiscal stimulus as he mentioned it himself but what about the state and local money as blake talked about a few minutes ago looks like it will be cut out of the new package? reporter: federal reserve chairman said the concern is he said state and local government are very large employers.

they have been laying off large numbers, people mainly in education. powell said he can't understand why that is happening. specifically they're looking into it but what to do rests with congress. back to you. connell: all right. edward, edward lawrence reporting live for us from washington. we have a "fox business alert" now with the new antitrust case. charges against google, the texas attorney general ken paxton announcing a multi-state suit saying quote in internet goliath used its power to manipulate the market, destroy competition, harm you the consumer. texas joining up with the justice department's lawsuit against google which was filed in october. the stock is down almost four dollars. changing the climate on climate change. president-elect joe biden electing a new climate leader. hillary vaughn is watching it in wilmington, delaware watching the transition for us today. hillary?

reporter: connell, president-elect joe biden is he will emphasizing climate change in his administration. he is creating brand new jobs for his climate team to give them new power in the administration. he is expected to announce gina mccarthy, former head of the epa to be his advisor. she will have a job in the white house with her own staff. al gore says mccarthy's appointment says a new era of climate accountability is upon us. climate activists signals the administration is ready to bypass congress to take executive action on climate matters. back in the she praised an industry now protesting, natural gas. in 2014 mccarthy said this, natural gas in the u.s. has been a game-changer. it has been a significant benefit to the united states. it's been a significant benefit to air quality but today mccarthy's tune on fossil fuels has changed. she tweeted this in april, quote, we must strengthen, not

weaken rules that reduce the fossil fuel pollution contaminating our air for the sake of our people's health. that change really showcase what is we've seen in president-elect biden's evolving stance on fossil fuels. it really shows, connell, that there is successfully a shift progressives pushed for in the administration to get a harder stance on industries like oil and natural gas, connell? connell: i wonder, hillary, how the new transportation secretary nominee who were officially introduced to today there in wilmington, how he might fit into this climate agenda you're talking about? >> he is going to play a big role. pete buttigieg was nominated and picked for transportation secretary officially by biden today. biden said that buttigieg is going to be the one to get his two trillion dollar climate plan through. a big part investing two trillion dollar in taxpayer

money into green energy jobs. connell? connell: thank you. hillary vaughn live in wilmington, delaware. hillary's backdrop providing the perfect transition to start talking about the weather. we have 60 million americans under a winter storm warning. this powerful nor'easter making its way up the east coast. fox news chief meteorologist rick reichmuth joins us. what is the latest, rick? rick: you get the idea certainly from her shot all the snow. we have snow building in. rain across the southern side of this. southeast, this storm is gone for you. we have snow across parts of ohio, in throughout pennsylvania and lower part of new york. pennsylvania, especially northeastern pennsylvania i think will be the bull's-eye for some of the heaviest snowfall totals from this. winter storm warnings extending from parts of northern new england, southern half of vermont, new hampshire, maine to the southern appalachians, as the storm winds up we see snow across parts of the south.

snow anywhere from philadelphia, scranton, new york city area has not started yet. up in hartford, connecticut and towards much of massachusetts that will happen over much of the next couple hours. all new york city reporting stations all the reports in central park snow across all of them. snow is here, potentially what can happen in new york city a little bit of sleet mixing in, sometimes that happens. you get really slushy mix in there, it keeps snowfall total as little lower. that might be only thing we see. tonight, overnight tonight is the main event. we'll probably seeing snow, maybe 2:00 inches of snow an hour. that is heavy know falling. totals by the morning will be pretty extreme. interior sections, coastal areas, up to a foot of snow by the time this will be done. connell behind this it stays very cold for much of coming three to four days. any snow that falls is not going

anywhere anytime soon. connell? connell: all right. rick, thank you, sir. more business side of this mess of winter storm coming up adding to already challenging season for shipping companies. we're live from laguardia airport with more on that. schools might not be the problem. what the cdc is now saying could be tied to child covid cases. real estate's revival, if you're a homeowner right now, whether you know it or not you're rich. stick around. we'll be right back. ♪ liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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♪. connell: shipping companies facing what you might say is kind of a trifecta of challenges right now. they have the distribution ever the very first doses of a vaccine. the record breaking holiday shopping season, now this massive winter snowstorm we're talking about. following it all fox's alex hogan from laguardia airport in new york. alex. reporter: connell, the snow is starting to come down here in queens. drivers are out trying to get the last shipments in before the brunt ever the storm. this is the busiest shipping week for the entire year. this is the problem we've seen from shipping companies really throughout the pandemic as more people are shopping online and having difficulty staffing because of covid-19. ups saw a record number of

holiday shipments this season. ups and fedex say that customers could see extra delays, especially due to this weather. they're prioritizing the vaccine offer other packages. the nor'easter threatening a new round of pfizer doses hitting the roads. each box is tracked by gps so they can monitor it remains the same temperature and arrives on schedule. shipping companies say they have contingency plans in place incase airports and roads are closed. because of the storm in massachusetts, governor charlie baker says new englanders are no stranger to winter weather but warning this is a storm unlike ones in the past. >> the best way to handle this is to stay home until it passes and everything gets cleared out. >> this is going to be statewide. so we'll have to be all across the state. we have been gearing up large numbers of everything. reporter: in new jersey governor

phil murphy declared a state of emergency asking drivers to stay off of the roads. about 60 million people are either under storm watch or storm advisory. currently there are about 757 flights that are canceled and about 884 flights that are delayed and in new york, boston, kids will not need to go to in-person class tomorrow as we have seen virtual learning is something we've been doing throughout the pandemic. so those kids will not get the hoped for snow day. connell. connell: right. oh, boy. mayor is hearing about that from some of the kids on social media today, one of their snow days. alex, thank you. alex hogan laguardia airport. to open, not to open, even if tomorrow is a snow day for some that is still the larger question as schools around the country are struggling to plan out the rest of the year. a new cdc report suggest that children who attend gatherings are more likely test positive

for covid-19 than attending school or child care. reopening plan for chicago public schools remains uncertain. a hearing is set for tomorrow that would halt the city's current plan. superintendents of country's three largest school districts, new york, los angeles, chicago, are calling for a nationwide coordinated effort for schools, up immediately, something of like a marshall plan like they rebuilt europe. we have the public school superintendent in white plains, new york. good to have you back on the show. it has been a while. this marshall plan idea is something of a good place to start with somebody like you, if you're starting with something like that. what do you need most when you have had a few months to assess the how the school year is going? >> good to be back with you, connell. thanks so much for having plea. we need a plan like a marshall plan. we had not comprehensive support

for federal support for public schools. public schools are important for the your community and economy. it has been crickets from the federal government. we've been screaming for passage ever heroes act to support us in public schools to make sure we have what we need to stay open and support our kids, connell, it is not coming through. connell: what don't you have? you know, as a specific example right now, what do you need the money for? >> we should have comprehensive screening testing, contact tracing in every school throughout the country. there is no reason why we have not been able to in nine or 10 months establish a program to make sure that all of our faculty and staff members our children, are being screened and that when we find covid-19 we contact trace. we're doing that all by ourselves right now. on top of it we're doing it and we know that our states are running deficits because there has been no support from the federal government. so to get this right we need

more -- connell: let me hit that issue out in chicago that i mentioned introducing you. the problem out there or the question out there seems to be surrounding the unions. i have heard this a lot from talking especially to business people on the show, well the teachers unions they have been, they have been an issue for people like you superintendents because they're pushing to keep the teachers out of the classroom as opposed to getting them into the classroom. what would you say about the relationship between folks who do what you do and unions and whether that is helping or hindering this whole process. >> i'm glad you asked that question. the unions are being put up as a straw man. they're being used as scapegoat to avoid the actual problem, the problem that we've not invested in this process. we have not invested in making sure that we're opening our schools safely at the federal government level. you know what, unions are advocates for the health and well being of their union members. americans, 300,000 dead americans and these folks want to make sure they can go to work safely. that is not a lot to ask.

connell: speaking of going to work safely, the cdc study, is that followed your experience one we mentioned a moment ago where the transmission is not coming from the schools as much? i think that is what the data shows in new york. i'm not sure of the contact tracing is school on that at all or really what your experience has been as well? >> yeah. 100%. you're not seeing spread in public schools. why? because public schools have made sure that they're taking the appropriate precautions to identify cases of covid-19, appropriately contact trace, ice late and quarantine. they have been doing it since they reopened. they made major changes to the infrastructure, density in their building. that is why you're seeing that cases are not spreading in the schools but they're still coming into the schools. if we could stop them at the front door, connell, we could be back in school. connell: right. as we are in many parts of the area and country, not some others.

joseph rica, white mains new york. thank you. we appreciate your perspective on this issue. a lot of people are talking about it. the clock is ticking on holiday shipping. amazon is setting a deadline related to this, announcing next wednesday and thursday will be the cut-off dates for free one day delivery and for all prime members with minimum 35-dollar order. watch those dates. we'll be back. you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired my interior decorator. voila! maybe a couple throw pillows would help. get a strategy gut check from our trade desk. ♪

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♪. connell: among the first to receive the vaccine we have a group of high-risk seniors at a residential care home in florida. they were among the first groups to get the vaccine for covid that were not health care workers. so that is progress as we're moving forward. fox news's phil keating in pompano beach with details on that. reporter: hey there, connell. some of the first senior citizens living in the state of florida, in fact the nation are

now getting the coronavirus vaccine. they are the second priority group in the state and the nation actually by cdc guidelines right affront line health care workers, doctors, who began getting their shots on monday. governor ron desantis flew down here to witnesser the state of florida health department strike team to minister the vaccine. john knox village, day one, 90 residents signed up for the vaccine as well as about 80 staff members. >> it helps save lives. it also helps increase the quality of life for some of our most vulnerable residents. reporter: one of the first volunteers to roll up her sleeves, 88-year-old vera leap, a former school teacher living her golden years in south florida. one out of ever five residents in florida is senior. this has been devastating for retirement, assisted living,

nursing homes this year. i asked leap how she felt being part of the first big step towards the end of the pandemic. >> honey, i don't know how i feel about it you know, but if it is going to come and, how long it is going to be i have no idea. reporter: but you're excited to get the shot? >> oh, i guess so, [laughter] reporter: just love it when a senior citizen lady calls me honey that was very cute. she was precious. more doses could be coming next week from moderna's vaccine. a group of scientists advised the fda last night to grant emergency approval for the moderna vaccine which would give us the pfizer and the moderna. and the governor here said today he expects the fda to sign off on it, give it the green light by friday night. connell? connell: thank you, honey. phil, it is funny that vera

seemed like she wasn't thrilled necessarily to have someone stick a needle in her arm but at the same time she understood how important it was. she said, yeah, this is great you know. reporter: yeah. but she also did get to meet the governor. he personally pushed her wheelchair back inside. so that is kind of fun. connell: that is kind of fun. very nice. very good example for people to say, hey, this is safe and get out to do it yourself. phil thank you, phil keating down there in florida, with the senior citizens as we move forward, one group to another in terms of who is getting vaccinated which is a good sign of all of that. first time since the tradition began more than 100 years ago, this year the times square new year's eve ball will drop but won't look like this. the first time there will not be an in-person audience. more than 60 million americans in the cross-hairs of a blockbuster winter storm we're reporting on. getting started in some areas.

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in six years. so with this new report basically tells us you know, if you own a home you might not realize how rich you really are. gerri willis here with the story. gerri? reporter: hey, connell, that's right. so you know for many years now homeownership has been maligned as an investment for american homeowners but new numbers from corelogic may make you rethink that criticism. one trillion dollars. that's the amount of home equity american homeowners earned year-over-year according to corelogic. that is $17,000 per household, or on average a 10.8% increase since the third quarter of 2019. due mostly to rising home prices. take a look at the top states for equity gains. washington, california, massachusetts, at the top of the list. big winners mostly out west like utah, idaho.

massachusetts on the east coasts you have new hampshire and rhode island as big winners. home equity could keep homeowners out of trouble with the broader economy turning negative. >> historically, as a value of a person's home goes up there is wealth effect that encourages people to spend a little bit more. that is perhaps one of the reasons we've seen the savings rate come down supporting overall economic growth. reporter: now you remember negative equity, right? where a homeowner owes more than the house is worth? remember that from back in 2008. that is largely absent in the market but continues in a few places like chicago and suburbs 6.9% owners are underwater. new york and miami make that list. as the housing market continues to be a bright spot of this economy and americans nest at home and interest rates continue at lows. connell? connell: all right.

what about next year, anybody talking about that, gerri? reporter: yeah. you get. so all of this is conspiring to make next year look very good indeed. later in the year you could get higher interest rates. this hangover of higher home equity means good things for the market. the real constraints, things like supply so that is it not a fundamental negative for the market. back to you. connell: interesting. gerri, thank you. gerri willis there. some headlines now "after the bell" from washington as the 11th hour approaches for an agreement on coronavirus stimulus direct payments really are becoming a big issue now on both sides of the aisle. the missouri republican senator josh hawley saying he will fight for more money to go to americans because, quote, people are in trouble right now around they need help. a battle within the democratic party is shaping up. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez calling out nancy pelosi and chuck schumer on their leadership. let's take a listen. >> i do think that we need new leadership in the democratic

party. that is i think the result of just many years of power being concentrated in leadership with a lack of you know, real grooming of the next generation of leadership. connell: we also have more progress in the fight against covid-19. an fda advisory committee is expected to meet tomorrow voting on a recommendation of moderna's vaccine for emergency use after claiming it was, quote, highly effective in its clinical study. analysis on all of this, john bussey, "wall street journal" associate editor. obviously the moderna news, if you want to start there, john, is good news. it would give us a second option. what do you make of the speed we're moving on vaccine efforts? >> that's right, it will be a second vaccine that will have a remarkable efficacy rate. it is 94% effective with people. so this will augment what is out there now from pfizer. it still has to go through another hurdle. there has to be a independent

committee to analyze all of the data but the fda already proclaimed it highly effective. it has a tailwind at this point, connell t has pretty good likelihood it will get approved very soon. remember it already started making the vaccine. this is one of efforts made to fund some early manufacturer of vaccines so there will be vaccine to go into the market very quickly. again not to vaccinate everybody right away, that will take months but they will be able to get a quick start. connell: what about the aoc comments we played a moment ago? goes after pelosi and schumer. does the president-elect, joe biden have an issue on the left side of his democratic party and if so, how do you think it affects his opening days in office? if he has been a moderate or like to call himself a moderate for many years in the senate as vice president but he is pushed by the left side of his party, how will that play itself out you think?

>> yeah, that's right and it is nothing new. the left side of the party very often pushed against the middle saying its agenda is not being listened to close enough. that is normal tension within the democratic party. remember most of the united states is somewhere in the middle and that holds true for democrats as well. it is not an enormous part of the party that ocasio-cortez represents. she is very smart, she is highly articulate, very charismatic. she has really elevated the progressive wing of the democratic party. when she talks about the leadership issue particularly, she is kind of right. these are older members of congress. they have been in the jobs, schumer in the senate, pelosi in the house for quite some time and it is also not unusual for younger members of the congress to be pushing for greater leadership roles. she has a long way to go though because again, this is not a enormous section of the democratic party that she

represents. these are established politicians who are in leadership roles. connell: if someone like an aoc as we're having stimulus today in washington still up until this very hour to push for something like direct payments, sending people checks again, you would say okay, i think she is in favor of it but to have josh hawley on the right side of the political spectrum doing the same is kind of interesting. i wonder how that will affect it, if that is part of of this deal if they finally ever close one, checks going out, 6, 700 bucks or 1200? >> that is where they are at this moment. mind you things have shifted several times. the feeling is the economy needs to sag more heavily, they need to do something to stimulate more money in the hands of people who really need it at this point. so the expectation is roughly 900 billion-dollar deal that they are seem to be galvanizing around will include direct payments. it will include a, an extension

of enhanced unemployment insurance, perhaps, around 300 bucks extra a week. it will include support again for small business and for schools and for some health care workers facilities. what it won't include is liability protection for businesses and the feeling there was that, well if you do that, the democrats were saying that if you do that, that might cause businesses to not perhaps protect their workers and customers as much as they might. it won't include essentially direct payments or support for the budgets of states because the republicans feel, well look, if the states have not managed their financial affairs, then why should they get support from the government? the states on the other hand are saying the government shifted a lot of cost of coronavirus prevention programs to the states. so we need some money. connell: right. but some of their priorities could be helped by priority in other spots especially small

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i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪. connell: to the future of college sports with big money on the line. supreme court today announcing it will take up the ncaa's case on paying student athletes and here now to talk about that is evan williams, a sports business reporter at sportico. good to have you back on the show, evan. can you explain what is at stake in this case, the issues we talked about a lot, whether athletes should get paid or not what is the issue and what happens down the road? >> i think what is at stake the entire economy around college sports. the ncaa existed for dozens of years, holding on to the idea of amateurism. this is a lawsuit depending what

the supreme court does in 2021 could bring down the entire amateur system. they want a free market for college athletic talent f trevor lawrence is the best talent in the country and clemson should pay him and alabama should be able to pay him to lure time had tuscaloosa. they want a free market in the same way the schools compete for coaches. connell: if they win, likely would it end up to your point, trevor lawrence could play college sports and people in non-generating revenue sports, big time football or basketball? they're getting paid through a scholarship to go to school in is that the way it might end up? that is the market, right? >> they want that free market. the caveat here and may feel like deja vu for people feeling about a big lawsuit that totally changes the ncaa model. there are shades of gray judges

decide on. we were down the road with the lawsuit ed o'bannon filed about athletes marketing themselves. the final ruling from a judge is kind of a middle ground. schools had to allow this but didn't have to allow that. my guess, if you look at earlier rulings in this case, what we ended up with is kind of a -- earlier judges and appeals courts said, you can't cap anything that is educationally related but you can cap anything that is just guy is good at football, good at basketball they will pay her x. that is good chance where this ends up if the precedent is set. connell: right. thattism packs not only college sports but on the pros. speaking about the pros. want to talk about the nfl with you while we have you here, nfl making it official they have will not mandate that their staff or their players stay in a bubble are for playoffs for the post-season. they say because the data and covid testing. a lot of people expected so successful for basketball.

i believe for the baseball post-season they had a bubble or bubbles for players, maybe they would do it for the playoffs. your thought the fact that won't happen? >> it is every league, connell, mlb, nba, nhl, decided playoffs would be in a bubble for some format. the nfl clearly going in a different direction. the league feels the enterprise around the nfl is bigger, roster sizes are bigger, more gameday personnel, harder to do bubble wise. they looked at data over the year. look, the contractions of the virus we're seeing are from players being close to other players and from staff being close to other staff, not necessarily from players catching it in their own community and bringing it to a facility. they look at those data, okay, maybe it is the players are safer when they're sleeping in their own beds for the playoffs around maybe only doing hotel night before the game as opposed to keeping everybody in one place where one outbreak could mean, entire team or entire

coaching staff is unavailable. connell: yeah. interesting because the data for the population overall, like new york state where we are, for example, they showed transmission, 3/4 of, 75% of people coming into their homes, people in a restaurant or whatever case may be. with broader data you could make the argument that is riskier strategy for the nfl. >> you're absolutely right. nfl to its credit, we should mention has not had a single game canceled because of covid-19. college football had 140. the nfl only has had one. they honed in on what they call set of protocals, a set that really works for them. if you look at numbers, the week of thanksgiving they had 32 players i think test positive for covid. flab forward to this past week, that is down to 14 players. they do feel like they have found some mix of protocols, in facility note calls and travel

protocols is working. seems like that is what they're trying to stick with for the entire playoffs. connell: they might be right. as we learned nobody has the perfect answer for any of this. they may be right. thank you, evan williams, sport tick co. good to have you on again. multiple governors declaring states of emergency meantime as the snowstorm bears down on the east coast. it deals another profor restaurants. their timeline for reopening coming up next smooth driving pays off you never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today allstate unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference.

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♪ ♪ connell: all right. the snow's falling now in new york city and some parts of the area, could end up with a couple of feet before all is said and done. let's yet to fox's david lee miller in manhattan where the white stuff is giving business owners yet another issue to deal with. >> reporter: connell, the weather outside is fruitful and so is the impact on the economy, especially when it comes to newts restaurants.

the big loss for the industry the here is that there's a mandatory shutdown that tookfect about three hours ago of all of those temporary ventilated structures that are up in the city along the curb. many provide heat and approach the comfort level of indoor dining. for many restaurants, these temporary structures are an economic lifeline. while they don't have to be dismantled, they cannot remain operational because they could interfere with the plowing of the streets. the head of the sanitation d. says crews have been prepping for this day. >> we have been working since the summer to account for and if try to plan our approach to the outdoor dining structures. we have augmented our training protocols. >> reporter: despite the weather, restaurants can do takeout and delivery, and customers can still be served on city sidewalks, but with

sub-freezing temperatures and snowfall, many folks are going to stay home. the impact is especially devastating because earlier this week the state halted all indoor dining in new york city even though it had capped capacity at 25%. many restaurant owners are now calling on the governor to reverse that decision to inreinstate indoor dining. they do say based on the state's own statistics does not significantly affect the spread of covid when it comes to bars and restaurants. they say the real great risk here when it comes to spreading covid, according to state statistics, are private gatherings. back to you, connell. connell: yeah, about three-quarters of them, cuomo himself was talking about that the other day. david lee miller louvre from the snow but streets of manhattan this afternoon. we'll watch a number of stories as we head into the evening. one that storm the, see how bad it is up and down the east coast

and particularly the impact on business. then for washington maybe we finally get a deal on stimulus as the countdown is on there. thanks for watching us as we report the news "after the bell." pretty scene in new york city. see you back here psalm time tomorrow. ♪ same time tomorrow. ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. tempers today flaring in washington between members of the senate homeland security committee, the senators questioned six witnesses about the numerous allegations of electoral fraud, irregularities and, yes, crime in in the november if election. committee chairman senator ron johnson called america's distrust of the outcome of this election a threat to the republic itself. ed radical dems on the committee, however, championing the words of fired election security official from d health care s chris krebs, the very