right now on "america this morning," restrictions returning. more states take action trying to stop the surge of coronavirus cases. new curfews and new limits on the size of gatherings. more hospitals on the brink. overwhelmed. the new prediction on which areas of the country will get hit the hardest and the impact on everything from the music industry to college football. breaking overnight, you're hired. inside president-elect joe biden's first big decision as he prepares to enter the white house. president trump defiant refusing to accept the election results. the key republicans now speaking out for the first time. abc news exclusive. >> he's not a monster. >> the mother of kyle rittenhouse, the 17-year-old çharged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha, defends her son.

why she says it was self-defense. breaking right now, an emergency declaration in florida. tropical storm eta slamming ashore. where the storm is headed next. country music's golden night. the big performances. ♪ then god whispered your name >> and the big winners at the cma awards. from the delivery driver who took a wrong turn to the risky art restoration that ended in disaster to the goose in love with a car. all the trending stories for your thursday morning. good thursday morning, everyone. i'm kenneth moton. >> i'm erielle reshef. mona is off. we begin with the record-breaking surge in coronavirus cases here in the u.s. >> states from coast to coast are setting new highs. hospitals in several states are running low on staff, and experts are now warning about substantial growth in covid cases in the northeast and mid-atlantic states. >> and the virus now impacting

more of our pop culture. several acts at the country music awards had to cancel because of covid concerns, and in the sports world, at least eight college football teams this weekend will have their games canceled. >> all of this coming as president-elect joe biden lays out more of his plan for the transition of power in washington. we'll get to those details in a moment. but first the dire situation across this country. this morning the coronavirus emergency getting worse by the hour. lines of cars last night snaking into dodger stadium in california, the testing sites' hours are now extended after a spike in cases prompted los angeles county to strongly recommend residents get tested and comes as the country smashes daily virus records. 144,000 new cases reported yesterday, the biggest increase yet. more than 65,000 americans now hospitalized, an all-time high. according to the covid tracking project, health care systems are on the brink of being overwhelmed in these nine states. >> we're breaking records from april, which we didn't think we

would be in a place like this come seven months later, but i'm also worried that there is a sense of quarantine fatigue. people think it's over, it's rounded the corner when it's really not. >> reporter: in new york the governor is imposing a 10:00 curfew for bars, restaurants and gyms, and gatherings in private homes will be limited to ten people. >> if these numbers keep going crazy, you have some scientists who believe we're going to go back to a close-down. i'm just praying that doesn't happen. >> reporter: in illinois seven deaths are blamed on a covid outbreak at this veterans home. more than 140 residents and staff have tested positive. four chicago suburbs are facing shutdowns to stop the spread. >> it's round two all over again. no government funding, no ppe money. this is going to be a lot worse than it was last time around. i mean it's going to be brutal. it's going to be crushing, especially to people -- this is the last -- the holidays

are the busiest times for everyone. >> reporter: in the meantime, a new challenge in the fight against the virus. a lack of freezers needed for pfizer's vaccine. >> a unique very different freezer, almost like unicorns in health care. they're far and hard to find. >> reporter: pfizer is expected to request emergency authorization for its vaccine as soon as next week, but the vaccine must be stored and shipped at 94 degrees below zero. fedex is adding dry ice freezers to some trucks and u.p.s. says it's building freezer farms to help with distribution. experts say getting the vaccine to rural areas will be the biggest challenge. >> that's going to be a lot more difficult because now we're going to have to find a way to maintain that temperature while we're driving it out 20 or 50 miles in order to do an inoculation. >> some more good news here. a second vaccine may be coming soon. dr. anthony fauci expects positive data from moderna's vaccine in the next few days. that vaccine must also be shipped extremely low temperatures. >> more staffers at the white house have tested positive for covid-19. that includes political director brian jack. at least 12 people in the

president's orbit have now tested positive since news of chief of staff mark meadows' case last week. breaking overnight, a federal emergency has been declared in florida as tropical storm eta slams the gulf coast. winds topping 60 miles per hour have been lashing the tampa area. many roads are flooding with at least six inches of rain and four feet of storm surge possible. schools are closed and the airport was shut down. abc's rob marciano is there following the storm's path. >> reporter: western florida has been getting slammed with heavy rain, wind and obviously some surging waves here. tampa bay, susceptible to surge, no doubt about it, even from a strong tropical storm, which is what we're seeing. >> we'll take a closer look at today's forecast so you know what to expect in just a few moments. a major development overnight in the transition of power in washington. president-elect joe biden has made his first big hire, chief of staff. meanwhile, as president trump remains defiant refusing to

acknowledge the election results, some key republicans including karl rove are now stepping forward with a reality check. abc's alex presha has the latest. alex, good morning. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden has been receiving phone calls from foreign leaders all over the world congratulating him, yet abc has learned overnight the state department led by mike pompeo still hasn't received guidance in this transition. as of this morning, joe biden leads donald trump by more than 5 million votes nationally. it's the largest popular vote victory since obama in '08. still president trump refuses to concede and continues to make baseless claims about election fraud. now eyes are on georgia. biden is up there by more than 14,000 votes. a hand recount already authorized so the republican secretary of state telling cnn he thinks the ultimate results won't change. >> we believe that the ballots were counted accurately with the machine count. >> reporter: in arizona another state where trump's challenging vote counts the attorney general telling the local paper, if, indeed, there was some great

conspiracy, it didn't work. but the president's refusal to concede and his allies backing him has frozen the transition process. two state department sources confirm that the department has given no guidance to all diplomatic posts about how to discuss the election results and was not assisting the biden transition with receiving calls and messages from foreign leaders. biden's also not getting key intelligence briefings through the general service administration. gop senator james lankford telling krmg radio he'll, quote, step in if that doesn't happen by friday. still president-elect joe biden is moving forward with transition activities filling a key role tapping ron klain to be chief of staff. klain led the obama's response to the ebola virus. >> once they left and continued with the pandemic preparation office was a playbook and on page 9 of the pandemic playbook it said, hey, here's something to worry about, a coronavirus. >> reporter: former george w.

bush chief of staff karl rove penned an op-ed in "the wall street journal" saying these election results won't be overfurnished and telling president trump that closing out this election will be a hard but necessary step towards restoring some unity and political equilibrium. >> alex presha in washington, thank you. in georgia today a judge is being asked to decide whether to grant bond for the father and son for killing ahmaud arbery. gregory and travis mcmichael have been in jail since may, more than two months after they chased and gunned down arbery. the 25-year-old black man had been running in their neighborhood. the mcmichaels say they thought he was a burglar. their lawyer is asking the judge to dismiss the charge of malice murder. in houston a massive fire ripping through this recycling plant. take a look here, forcing authorities to put a shelter in place order in to people within a half mile radius. officials say that this was a trash fire and the shelter in place order was only a precaution. no injuries were reported. a daring rescue in green

bay, wisconsin. two deputies rushed to save a man from this suv engulfed in flames after a crash. one pried the door open and pulled out the driver who is now accused of driving drunk. let's take a closer look now at your thursday weather. on the radar right now eta is slamming central florida. up to 8 inches of rain are possible for the tampa area. the system is heading north and could unleash flooding in parts of georgia today. checking today's high mpat, infe northeast where more rain is expected today. it will be in the low 60s from 50s for detroit and chicago. 40s in washington state and oregon and a storm heading toward northern california could dump two feet of snow. 73 in phoenix. coming up, the new coronavirus scare on a cruise ship. but first how the mother of kyle rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha,

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and blood sugar changes were similar to placebo. so if you're affected by schizophrenia, ask your doctor about caplyta -clular therapies. we're back with images from london. police say a man crashed a car into a police station then got out, poured gas on the vehicle and the road and lit everything on fire. officers tackled then arrested the man. police say the incident does not appear to be terror related. the mother of kyle rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha, wisconsin, this summer is speaking out in her first one-on-one interview, and she's defending her sons actions that night. abc's andrea fujii has more. >> reporter: this morning, the mother of kyle rittenhouse defending her son. >> they need to watch the video. he is not a monster.

>> reporter: the 17-year-old ise killing two in kenosha, wisconsin, in august when residents protested the police shooting of jacoe.akbl ritten sere ushoisee sn videos with an ar-15 style rifle walking down city streets. abc news confirming that rittenhouse is the person seen ' running from the crowd, then he falls and then begins shooting. he spoke to an independent journalist that night. >> people are getting injured and our job is to protect this busssine p and hofelarp. >> reporter: wendy rittenhouse says her son was there to protect businesses from looting but instead he was forced to protect himself. >> if he didn't have that gun, he would have been dead and point blank. it was all self-defense. i saw it. if i wasn't his mother, i would have said the same thing, it was self-defense. he was chased by a bunch of mob. >> reporter: rittenhouse's lawyers claim he was attacked with a baseball bat and

skateboard during the protest, but medics say they didn't find any bruising on his body. >> self-defense? that is impossible. that is impossible. i don't know what part of the video you watched, but he already killed a guy, shot him in the head and then tried to run. >> reporter: wendy ritghtet nho the shooting exonerate her son. >> they need to go step by step t. ihe nothing wrong. he was attacked by a mob. the first guy to the second guy and to the third guy. >> reporter: rittenhouse is charged with first degree intentional homi aindecirisondnd convicted. kenneth, erielle. >> andrea, thank you. "the new yorker" has fired eritwrfref j says he accidentally exposed himself during a zoom call with collgues. toobin was suspended after the october incident, and the magazine conducted an investigation. toobin is also a legal analyst for cnn where he is on leave.

coming up, how mcdonald's is hoping to speed up the drive-through line. but first a new coronavirus scare at sea on the first caribbean cruise since the pandemic began. here's to the duers. to all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. dupixent isn't for sudden breathing problems. it can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. it's not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma?

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ringing in their ears. >> scary. we turn now to the coronavirus scare on the first cruise ship to resume sailing in the caribbean. it comes as cruise lines look for volunteers to test safety of setting sail again. this morning, a covid scare at sea. a passenger on board the first cruise to set sail in the caribbean since march has reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus. >> it's a real pleasure to welcome you on board "seadream." >> reporter: the "seadream i" with 53 passengers and 66 crew members returning to barbados overnight. >> if it had gone well, it would prove -- it would have proved that cruising could come back in the caribbean. >> reporter: according to the points guy reporter, gene sloan, who is on the ship, all patients were tested before boarding on saturday but on tuesday one felt sick and tested positive. sloan says all guests are now quarantining in their rooms. >> right before lunchtime the captain came on the speaker across the whole ship and told

us that a passenger had started not feeling well today and had been tested and had tested positive for covid. >> reporter: earlier this summer "seadream" touted its new safety measures. >> as being one of the first companies to operate, we really feel we are at the forefront of the industry. >> reporter: and while the cdc does not regulate smaller ships like the "seadream i" they did lift their no sail order on november 1st updating its list of requirements that larger cruise companies must complete to resume operations. one requirement includes a test run with healthy volunteers who signed waivers acknowledging they're potentially putting themselves at risk. overnight royal caribbean telling abc news it received more than 5,000 emails from people interested in being one of those volunteers, and abc news reached out to "seadream," the cruise line with the reported case. so far no response overnight. the bigger cruise lines say they still have a lot of work to do and they don't plan on setting sail any time soon.

ticketmaster is working on plans to keep concertgoers safe once there is a coronavirus vaccine. according to billboard, fans would need to prove they've been vaccinated or tested negative 24 hours before an event. their status would appear on the ticketmaster app. the pandemic is forcing fast food restaurants to streamline services like the drive-through. mcdonald's say it will be testing express lanes for people who order in advance using its app. the company is testing dedicated pickup spots. mcdonald's says wait times have dropped by 20 seconds in recent months. driving through was not an option for this amazon delivery driver. he says he was following his navigation system when he got stuck trying to enter that tunnel on a golf course in oxford, michigan. yep. they had to get a tow truck to get him out there. >> yikes. >> ooh. coming up, an art restoration project. let's just say it didn't go as planned. but first highlights from country music's big night. ♪ i ain't got nothing left ♪ i ain't got nothing left

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♪ ♪ time to check "the pulse." we begin with country's golden night. >> the country music awards looked a little bit different this year as you can imagine. darius rucker and reba mcentire hosted the show in nashville. there was a live but socially distanced audience. >> the show kicked off with a tribute to the late charlie daniels. ♪ devil's in the house of the rising sun ♪ ♪ chicken in a bread pan picking outdoors ♪ >> eric church took home the night's top prize, entertainer of the year. >> meanwhile, the coronavirus forced some performers to miss the show altogether. lady a canceled after announcing a family member tested positive and rascal flatts tweeted 30 minutes after the show that someone in their band also tested positive. sign of the times.

now to an art restoration -- let's just say this did not go well. >> the face of a statue created decades ago was damaged overtime as it stood outdoors in a small town in spain. so an artist was hired to restore it with not so great results. >> picass-no. art experts are slamming the job nicknaming it potato head. >> that's good. hey, next a family cookout has ended with three men being banned from yellowstone national park. >> this is creative. i'll give them that. the problem is where they were cooking. the men were boiling chickens inside one of the park's hot springs. >> one of the men said park rules didn't really specify whether cooking in the springs is illegal, but it is. >> okay. and finally what's good for the goose is good for the driver? >> a man from nebraska says a goose has been following him. it's apparently in love with his car because it's been flying next to him on the road. >> goose on the loose. he parked the car to go hunting for the day, and when he came back, yep, the goose was right there. goose stalker right by the car. >> oh. probably because he honked the horn. he was like, oh, i like you. we'll check the top headlines next. >> you're cute.

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checking the top stories, president-elect joe biden has named long-time adviser ron klain as his chief of staff. klain has served under several top democrats but he is best known for leading the obama administration's response to the ebola outbreak. the move comes as more key republicans including strategist karl rove call on president trump to concede. more states are imposing new restrictions on businesses because of surging cases of coronavirus. 144,000 new infections have been reported in the last day, and more than 65,000 people are now in the hospital with covid. workers at u.p.s. will now be allowed to grow facial hair. the company has lifted a long-time ban in a move to promote diversity. other changes include allowing natural black hairstyles. today's weather, flooding along florida's central gulf coast before tropical storm eta moves north into georgia. snow showers for the upper midwest. chilly across much of the west.

more rain from d.c. to boston. >> got to admit this is one of my favorites of the morning. finally, these days we could all use a little extra motivation. >> yes. will ganss introduces us to one dad who is just the guy for the job. ♪ >> yes! let's step outside our box today. let's do something special. >> reporter: imagine you're 13 years old, and this is how your dad drops you off at school every day. >> have a good day. love you! >> be the captain of your ship. don't be scared to be the captain. >> reporter: what looks like a middle schooler's nightmare is actually daryl fimple's daily motivation to make his daughters' early mornings a little more fun. >> i was just kind of getting her to relax and kind of get through the day, enjoy it and start it with a smile and, you landed. >> reporter: where it landed, all over the internet. >> it just kind of blew up on us because people started asking every day, how long can you keep it going? you know, i look for it every morning.

hey, welcome. it's encouragement monday. and none of it is scripted. they have no clue what's coming. >> reporter: and sometimes daryl doesn't either. >> peyton, your encouragement is your -- i can't read my own writing in these goggles. >> reporter: folks inspired by the daily affirmations. >> and if it makes people smile and there's some little message in there for everybody. >> reporter: including his daughters. >> when dad turned the music up, i'm like, oh, he's about to do something. >> oh, man, i think it's awesome. i think that's what we're here for, i mean as people. i think that, you know, we need to smile every once in a while. we need to laugh still. we need to focus on what we can control because a lot of things we can't control. >> reporter: a lesson his 13-year-old has taken to heart. >> he's just my bestie, best friend, right? >> good response. >> reporter: daryl says he might have something extra special up his sleeve one of these days since it's peyton's senior year so we'll have to stay tuned for that. kenneth and erielle. >> so special. >> such a cool dad. love it. >> good dads making news in america this morning. >> stay with us for

right now on "america this morning," restrictions returning. more states take action trying to stop the surge of coronavirus cases. new curfews and new limits on the size of gatherings. more hospitals on the brink. overwhelmed. the new prediction on which areas of the country will get hit the hardest and the impact on everything from the music industry to college football. breaking overnight, you're hired. inside president-elect joe biden's first big decision as he prepares to enter the white house. president trump defiant refusing to accept the election results. the key republicans now speaking out for the first time. abc news exclusive. >> he's not a monster. >> the mother of kyle rittenhouse, the 17-year-old çharged with fatally shooting