>> yeah. you can donate time "america this morning." right now on "america this morning," a major step toward a coronavirus vaccine. the crucial vote today on who should be first in line. >> it comes as more cities and states run out of hospital beds. covid cases setting a new record. more nurses now preparing to go on strike. >> and now with more businesses in jeopardy being forced to close, a new study on whether lockdowns really work in stopping the spread of the virus. stimulus stalemate. what senate leader mitch mcconnell is now saying about another round of stimulus checks and the warning from one of the nation's largest public transit systems. what could happen soon unless there is more government funding. winter weather is here. the unexpected snow in the south. power outages in the north. up to 18 inches possible. what we're expecting today.

plus, the mysterious death of a former ceo of online retailer zappos. what the medical examiner is saying. felicity huffman's comeback. the new acting gig she's landed after the college admissions scandal. and for the first time we hear from this man rescued after clinging onto the top of his boat in the open atlantic for hours. what he did to survive. good tuesday morning, everyone. today is a crucial day in the coronavirus emergency. cdc advisers will vote on who should get the vaccine first. >> today could also be the first day we see more than 100,000 people in the hospital with this virus. more states are setting up field hospitals to handle patients and more cities are considering wider lockdowns. a new study finds a one-month shutdown in england helped reduce the number of

covid cases by 30% which doctors say is encouraging as we wait for a vaccine. this morning a major step forward in getting americans vaccinated. a panel advising the cdc will give its recommendation today on who should get the vaccine first, likely health care workers and first responders. the military official overseeing distribution says all americans should be able to get a shot by june. >> 100% of americans that want the vaccine will have the vaccine by that point in time. >> additional shipments of pfizer's vaccine have now arrived in the u.s. from belgium to supplement what's already here. the vaccine is ready to be shipped across the country within 24 hours of the government authorizing it for emergency use, which is expected after december 10th. and moderna has now joined pfizer in applying for emergency use authorization for its vaccine, but dr. anthony fauci says people still need to avoid crowds, wear a mask and socially distance. >> help is on the way, but it's not here yet, so we can do these

things, and we can prevent an even further escalation. >> reporter: 96,000 people are now hospitalized with the virus across the country. in rhode island, field hospitals will begin admitting patients this week because every hospital in the state is now full. >> i'm very disappointed that we've come to this place. covid is a preventable disease. if people would wear masks and stay distanced and stay safe and stay home, we wouldn't be in a pandemic. >> reporter: in california, the governor there is considering new stay-at-home orders to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed by christmas. already in los angeles county the 10 million resident there can no longer gather indoors or outdoors with anyone outside their household. outside new york city more than 200 nurses plan to go on strike today demanding more staff. >> when they look at a patient in the bed, they see dollar signs. when we look at a patient in the bed, we see a person. >> reporter: florida is approaching 1 million covid cases, but schools there will stay open through next spring. the governor explaining why. >> i would say that closing

schools due to coronavirus is probably the biggest public health blunder in modern america. the evidence has been remarkably clear since the spring that closing schools offers virtually nothing in terms of virus mitigation but imposes huge costs on our kids, on our parents and on our society. >> reporter: in ohio the governor is now asking anyone who can work from home to do so. >> we're a last line of defense. the front line now is the community. >> reporter: hospital workers joining the governor remotely sharing their experiences. >> i don't think the public truly understands what we go through every day, the heartbreak and the emotion and seeing the fear on these patients' faces. this is no joke. >> reporter: back here in new york some hospitals are canceling elective surgeries and they're being asked to identify retired workers who could return to duty.

president trump's controversial covid-19 adviser dr. scoot atlas is resigning. atlas was hired despite having no formal experience with infectious diseases and often publicly clashed with members of the task force on everything from shutdowns to mask mandates. in his resignation letter, atlas said he always relied on the latest science and evidence without political consideration. congress is back in session this week, but there's little chance of passing another coronavirus stimulus package before the end of the year. lawmakers are focused on a broader spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. democrats and republicans have voiced support for another round of $1,200 stimulus checks but remain deadlocked. >> there's no reason, none, why we should not deliver another major pandemic relief package to help the american people through what seems poised to be the last chapters of this battle. >> reporter: the two sides are clashing on several issues including aid for local governments. and with federal aid in

limbo, the washington d.c. metro may cut all weekend train service. it's part of a series of proposed budget cuts amid record low ridership during the pandemic. >> president trump is again lashing out using a string of new falsehoods and now one of his campaign lawyers is in hot water for suggesting a former government official should be put to death. abc's alex presha has the latest from washington. alex, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kenneth. joe biden's inauguration is just 50 days away. frankly, president trump is running out of options to overturn these election results. this morning, president-elect joe biden's victory is all but cemented. that's because all six states where president trump contested the results have now certified biden as the winner. but that's not stopping trump from spreading false information. >> we got 74 million, and we didn't win, but i know that we won arizona, and we won michigan, and we won georgia, and we won pennsylvania, and we won wisconsin, but what they did

is they played games and games like nobody's ever seen before. >> reporter: the president calling into a meeting of republicans in arizona monday lashing out at the republican governor doug ducey after ducey certified the state's election making biden only the second democrat in 70 years to win the state. >> you have a governor named ducey who just rushed to sign certificates. >> reporter: overnight ducey defending the state saying it has some of the strongest election laws in the country. and now a trump campaign lawyer is facing backlash after calling in to a radio show and saying that chris krebs, the former head of cybersecurity, should be shot. trump fired krebs last month after he said it was among the safest in history. >> joe digenova is also on the president's election team. >> anybody who thinks that this election went well like that idiot krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity -- >> the guy on "60 minutes" last

night. >> that guy is a class "a" moron. he should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot. >> reporter: that trump campaign lawyer did not respond to requests for comment overnight. kenneth. >> all right, alex presha there in washington. thank you. two women from washington state face terror charges accused of trying to sabotage railroad tracks near the canadian border. prosecutors say the women were protesting a gas pipeline. in one case a train carrying hazardous material nearly derailed. they could face 20 years in prison if convicted. we're now hearing from the man saved at sea after hanging on to a tiny section of this sinking boat for four hours. he was 86 miles off the florida coast. stuart bee says he was asleep when the boat got into trouble. a cargo ship eventually spotted him, and once on board he spoke to the coast guard over a satellite phone. >> i thought this is it, and then i saw container vessel in a distance, and i don't have my

glasses. i couldn't see if it was coming to me or not, but i was again waving and took my shirt and waved periodically and, of course, it seemed to get closer. he signaled me with three blasts of his horn, and i figured that he saw me. >> understood, captain. i can tell you i cannot imagine the feeling that you had when you saw that vessel coming. >> incredibly bee was not injured. now to the weather and a strong storm battering much of the east coast. heavy winds brought down trees and power lines in the northeast causing 135,000 power outages. a possible tornado was reported in montgomeryville, pennsylvania. the same system dropped snow in atlanta, and kentucky saw its first accumulating snow of the season. let's take a closer look now at your tuesday forecast. the rain and wind is moving through new england this morning. farther west 6 to 12 inches of snow is expected in parts of western new york, pennsylvania,

ohio and michigan. isolated areas could see 18 inches. temperatures in that region are in the 20s this morning. the cold blast reaches all the way to the gulf coast. mobile, alabama, will be 28 degrees this morning. new orleans climbs into the mid-50s today. 30s around the great lakes. 70s in california. 57 in new york. coming up, a beloved holiday tradition goes online for the first time. but first when we come back, the mystery surrounding the death of a 26-year-old instagram influencer found naked in houston. why her mother believes she was murdered and what her husband says. plus, caught on camera, the bike ride interrupted by a huge wave.

back now with a very wet bike ride along lake michigan in chicago. that cyclist was no match for that big wave yesterday and similar conditions are expected this morning. new details this morning about the death of tony hsieh, former ceo of online retailer zappos. the medical examiner says he died from smoke inhalation nine days after a house fire in connecticut. police say he was trapped in a storage area. the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but his death was ruled an accident. hsieh sold zappos to amazon for more than $1 billion. he was 46. we turn now to the death of a young texas woman who was a popular figure on social media. she worked as an influencer on instagram, and she was found dead on the side of the road naked. her mother believes she was murdered. abc's megan tevrizian has more on this growing mystery. >> reporter: this morning the mystery deepening into the death of an instagram influencer. >> she made sure everyone was included. she was a friend to literally

all. >> reporter: alexis sharkey found dead along this road in houston saturday. the 26-year-old had a large social media presence pushing organic health products to more than 27,000 followers on instagram. her friends say she feared for her safety in recent weeks worried about someone close in her life but not elaborating. >> i looked at her and said, she's petrified. this girl is scared for her life. >> reporter: alexis' mother says she believes her daughter was murdered. >> from what i've been able to gather, as well as a mother's gut -- i learned very young as a mom to trust my gut, and it's not let me down. >> reporter: on saturday alexis' husband called her mother to say alexis was missing. reporter steve campion from our houston station spoke had him. >> it was a strange conversation. he was very upset. he said he had been talking to detectives. he did everything in his power to find his wife. but he abruptly ended the conversation hanging up on me, in fact, saying he did not want us to

contact him again. >> reporter: alexis' mother posting to facebook writing, please help us find her and bring her home safely. we are so very desperate. please share. but a garbage truck worker finding alexis' body. authorities say she had no visible injuries. >> it's just so painful for someone being so bright and having so much to offer just to be gone, snuffed out, and i don't know why. >> reporter: alexis' mom said the two talked just last week about christmas plans. the cause of her death is pending an autopsy. kenneth, mona. >> megan, thank you. coming up, a grandmother jumps into action to protect her business. also ahead, actress felicity huffman lands her first job since the college admissions scandal. also ahead, actress felicity huffman lands her first job since the college admissions scandal. today there's a combination of two immunotherapies you can take first. one that could mean... a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pd-l1

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[ fizz ] joini[ coughing ] [ gasping ] skip to cold relief fast with alka seltzer plus severe power fast fizz. dissolves quickly, instantly ready to start working. ♪ oh, what a relief it is so fast. back now with this san francisco grandmother taking down an unruly customer at her restaurant. doris campos in the red there picked up a table and knocked the woman to the ground after she threw a jug of hand sanitizer. the woman was apparently angry over the wait time for food. felicity huffman has landed her first acting role since serving time in the college admissions scandal. she'll star in a new comedy on abc about a minor league baseball team. she'll also serve as an executive producer. pr experts say huffman's comeback story is possible thanks to her early apology and her letter of remorse. no word yet on when the show might air. turning back to the coronavirus, new questions about how the vaccines will be

distributed. earlier i spoke with dr. yvonne maldonado about the key issues ahead of today's vote at the cdc on who will get vaccinated first. dr. maldonado, so here's one dilemma surrounding distribution of the covid vaccine. california's getting 327,000 doses of the new pfizer vaccine, but the state has more than 2 million health care workers. how do you think such a challenge will be handled? >> the state will allocate to the counties, and the counties are going to decide how to distribute among hospitals. within our own system, we will be looking at distributing to the highest risk groups first and then creating a pyramid so that we can decide who gets the vaccines first and who gets the next several rounds over time. >> a panel of cdc advisers will vote today on who should get the vaccine first, but it's states and big cities who will get the final say, so what's the real impact of today's vote at the cdc? >> yeah, i'll be at that meeting

and basically it is a recommendation based on lots of research, but ultimately it will be up to the states and probably counties to make the final decision about distribution. >> since you're going to be at that meeting, tell us what more should we expect from it? what are you expecting from that meeting? >> we will get more detail around what we expect. specific health care workers should go first and who should go later. the other question is whether or not long-term care facility employees, personnel and the patients, will also be included in that first round or not. >> okay, so we've heard the top two vaccine candidates are more than 90% effective, but what don't we know yet about these vaccines? what are the unknowns? >> we still need to learn a number of things about how long the immunity will last, whether it protects people from just getting disease or whether it prevents them from becoming infected and infectious but not

sick, and then finally we need to see if there are other more subtle side effects that we aren't seeing even with tens of thousands who have been vaccinated. >> our thanks to dr. maldonado there. coming up, first lady melania trump unveils the white house holiday decoration themes. but first, a strange twist in the monolith mystery in the utah desert. another one just showed up far, far away. first, a strange twist in the monolith mystery. another one just showed up far, far away. if you still have symptoms of crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis even after trying other medications, it may be a sign of damaging inflammation, which left untreated, could get much worse. please make an appointment to see your gastroenterologist right away. or connect with them online. once you do, seeing the doctor is one less thing to worry about. need help finding a doctor? head to crohnsandcolitis.com

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just as mysteriously as it first appeared. officials think it might be the work of an artist. >> officials in romania say they have no idea where their monolith came from. next first lady melania trump decked the halls. she's unveiled the white house holiday decorations. >> the theme for the final christmas for the trumps in the white house is "america the beautiful." she credits volunteers from across the country with helping her make the choices. there's a nod to first responders and health workers. >> it comes weeks after the first lady was heard on a recording using expletives to complain about holiday decorating. next, a holiday tradition going online. for the first time since its debut in 1954 the new york city ballet will not perform "the nutcracker" on stage. >> they said the ballet's 2019 production will be streamed online beginning next friday. a man enjoying the water in florida got some unexpected company. check out the video near naples. a dolphin joined him on his board. >> but he didn't see it. he was too busy riding the wave. his friends though freaking out.

>> the dolphin was like, i can do this much better than you. ough freaking out. >> the dolphin was like i can do this much better than you. ♪ merry christmas! ♪ rich chocolate layers sprinkled with festive peppermint. with love from san francisco. ghirardelli peppermint bark squares. makes the holidays a bite better. a unitedhealthcare dual complete plan can give you extra benefits at no cost to you. like 25 dollars for healthy foods each month. with dual complete from unitedhealthcare... there's more for you. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn...

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>> it certainly is. a lot to talk about this morning including another possible statewide lockdown. we'll get to that. we begin with mike nicco and a look at our tuesday forecast. hey, mike. >> hi, reggie. hi, everybody. let's talk about what is going on outside. we'll start with the fog. a little more widespread than yesterday. theic theest ithickest in the . but you look at the south bay and let's look at 87 and you can see some thick fog. we cannot see the shark tank and we cannot see minetta san jose international. that is going to be around for the entire morning commute and the winds will pull it a little bit from north to south and look for it to fill in parts of the bay as we head into the morning commute and through the morning commute. it won't lift until after the morning commute. only the east bay inland valleys are going to be the least likely to have some of that fog. but it will turn quickly to sunshine with 58 at half moon bay and the rest