life's more fun with a dog. and doglife is more fun with milk-bone. ♪ ♪ breaking overnight, the u.s. sets another chilling record for deaths in a sings day with over 3,100. the u.s. death toll from covid has now topped the number of people killed in world war the. the fda panel's approval of the coronavirus vaccine p can't come fast enough for many, especially those on the front lines who have been pushed beyond their limits. this morning we're getting the first reaction from choice of the year -- actually two people, joe biden and kamala

harris. the rocket just launched from cape canaveral. and it was a christmas miracle, a 4-year-old boy trapped in a well for six hours rescued, and it's all caught on camera "early today" starts right now. >> thanks for waking up with us, i'm michelle fisher. >> and i'm phillip mena. "time" magazine has named its person of the year i should be people of the year because it's joe biden and kamala harris. >> they show for changing the american story, showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furries of division. gretathunberg was in 2019. 2018 was dedicated to the journalist whose work cost them their lives. >> president trump graced the

cover in 2016. >> mr. trump was a finalist this year but did not make the cut. one cut he did make was loser of the year that was according to a german magazine in a scathing article the magazine criticized his response to the pandemic and refusal to accept an election defeat. approval for the pfizer vaccine could come within days or even hours. they voted toget the endorsement yesterday. pfizer plans to ship nearly 3 million doses in the first week once they get the go-ahead the need is growing more urgent. the u.s. just set new single-day records for new cases and deaths on thursday as the death toll inches closer to 300,000, many hospitals are struggling nbc's miguel almaguer got access to one of the busiest hospitals in los angeles. >> reporter: every day thousands more arrive at hospitals across the country, fueled by another

single-day record of new infections, hospitals have seen covid admissions triple. nbc news given exclusive access inside their covid ward. >> we even never had to treat so many sick patients at the exact same time. >> reporter: every bed in this i icu wing is filled how quickly can people go from sick to icu? >> 24 hours and even less. i've had patients come in, not require any oxygen, high fever, don't feel well. within 24 hours, they're isolated in icu. >> reporter: down the hall this nurse is losing another patient. >> there's a very good chance

he'll pass without the family being able to say good-bye. >> how much time does he have? >> i don't think past midnight. >> reporter: the six hospitals reached capacity in michigan, and the ten rural counties in california out of icu beds the staff here like so many other hospitals around the country are exhausted. the days are 12 hours long and the shifts are 12 in a row. >> reporter: the sacrifices made are also personal. >> i don't get to see my mom because i'm scared they might get something from me, so we're all doing our part, and we're just hoping everything will do the same. >> reporter: inside one of the hospital's most restrictive areas, we met jose bonea who says he felt like he was drowning when he was admitted. so many on the front lines feel like they're under water. >> what's the hardest part. >> i think not knowing when this is going to end. >> reporter: the end still far

from near. miguel almaguer, nbc news. and in arizona, hospitals have also reached a breaking point with nearly 5,000 cases in the past 24 hours. 90% of their icu beds are at capacity our steve patterson has the latest. >> reporter: yeah, phillip it really is a crisis, the capacity here in arizona 90% of the hospital beds are full 90% of icu beds are full and just about half of that number is filled with covid patients the state now trying to get creative to find space to come up with more beds. one of the ways they want do it is right behind me st. luke's closed down in 2019. they want to rewarm it up. still, it's band-aid because the staffing levels, the ratios from patients to medical workers

caring for those patients is way out of whack they would have to bring in way more as far as boots on the ground there's no easy way to do it at this point this is, again, a crisis that is facing health care workers who are exasperated. they're tired, they're fatigued. they're happy to hear about the vaccine, but it may not come for months here. >> thank you. nbc news.com is dedicating its home page to the pandemic, the first time it's ever dedicated itself to a single topic. all day long you can explore reporting and graphics that detail the coronavirus and explain the urgency of taking it seriously. brandon bernard who was 18 years old when he was arrested as an accomplice in 1999 was

killed by a lethal injection the victims, two married ministers were kidnapped and shot in the head before their car was set on fire. in the hours leading up to the execution, reality star and activist kim kardashian worked to commute his sentence but a federal judge denied the request to halt the execution. he addressed the family of the victims saying, quote, i'm sorry. that's the only words i can say how i feel now and felt that day. the family thanked attorney general barr and trump for helping to bring them closure. the mother said i can very much forgive him. president-elect joe biden is

putting the finishing touches on his team he's set to announce more choices on his cabinet this afternoon. nbc's tracie potts joins us with the latest mr. biden has tapped more obama administration officials, right? >> right, michelle a lot are coming from the obama administration like susan rice, former u.n. ambassador and security adviser now tapped as the head of the domestic policy council. so she'll be the top adviser in the white house on what's happening inside the united states he's pulling denis mcdonough, former chief of staff under obama to head the department of veteran affairs. meantime we're also looking at the supreme court case that texas is leading with 17 states arguing there were irregularities in the election trying to get things turned around, president trump obviously behind this one as well 1 00 republican lawmakers are

backing that case, but not all of them. some republicans are speaking out about it >> it's unprecedented. i do not understand the legal theory is i don't want other state investigation a chance to change texas law based on a similar effort. >> texas is leading the suit, but pennsylvania, one of the battleground states that's targeted here sri respois respo, telling the texas court they have no standing to tell them what happened inside their state. >> lots to keep our eyes on in washington tracie, thank you. it's friday. we're looking forward to the weekend. let's check in with nbc meteorologist janessa webb hey, janessa, good morning. >> good morning, phillip and michelle good morning, everyone let's head into the weekend.

it's very large from the upper west to the midwest, it's dual-sided it's the upper midwest that's going to get a good stripe of snow throughout the weekend. right now first let's talk about the rain there is that potential of potential rain across chicago to little rock where you could see 2 to 3 inches. but on the northern tier we're going to see a good dose of snow due to the colder air seeping in i think isolated areas of iowa into portions of the ohio valley could see up to 3 to 5 inches. someocally l area even wyoming, 26 this afternoon for cheyenne, 53 for new york.

slightly cooler for boston this afternoon. we'll continue to look at this weekend forecast coming up. >> looking forward to it, janessa, thank you. the rams were out for retribution on "thursday night football" against the patriots los angeles' defense was the star of the show for most of the game they held new england barely the patriots could not find the end zone the entire game the rams got six sacks on jared stidham after he replaced newton who got benched. they avenge the super bowl liii loss they win, 24-3. when we return, the desperate search for a missing sailor off the coast of california. >> clorox wipes still all cleaned out. when they could finally return to shelves ughout the wash proce,

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and rescue mission is under way after a sailor possibly went overboard achlt lookout spotted what appeared to be a person in the water off the coast of california three search and rescue helicopters are scouring the area there. with clorox wipes still scarce, the ceo of the company are rushing to meet demand but those wipes may not be on shelves until mid-2021. >> good morning. i don't have to tell you since the pandemic cleaning products have been hard to come by. i spoke exclusively with the chief operating officer of clorox about all sorts of things like if he has a secret staff and when we can expect to see cleaning supplies return to normal on store shelves. demand is up 500% since the start of the pandemic. they've heired two times the

amount of employees. they're making products each day. >> our plants are running 24/7. >> reporter: ceo eric reynolds says it's not enough. >> the ceo said it would be better starting this summer and here we are at the end of the year and wipes are still hard to find what do you say to consumers >> we know consumers are very frustrated with us. >> reporter: he said by february production will be up 50% nch but don't expect a return until 2021. >> where does the cloth come >> sometimes we have a slowdown in supply of canisters or the chemistry itself. >> reporter: ask your local store clerks for their delivery days sign up for back in stock email alerts from major stores, and be creative. >> we hear stories of people cutting their wipes in half and sharing them with their

neighbors. >> you don't have a secret stash? >> people think i have a garage of dips infecting wipes. make sure everything gets out in the community. >> reporter: he says there are many other products that can combat the coronavirus including a 70% alcohol con korkz and hydrogen. peroxide and soap and water. >> i think clorox dropped the ball on this this is the one time everybody rushes to get the product and not there. >> i guess they're doing the best they can, i guess. >> they are. we'll have them midsummer 2020 when most of us are coming out of our cubby holes. brexit talks are barreling toward a lull. the troubles looming for brai itn.> d rocketing into the final frontier, the top-secret cargo aboard next it's giving-your-dog -your-fitness-tracker easy. oh, good boy.

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sunday it would be made by the end of this week. keir simmons spoke from london. >> both sides have drawn a red line for sunday saying they need to agree a deal by then in order to be able to get that deal through their various legislative bodies before the end of the year, which is the final deadline some of the debate is over who would be allowed to fish in british waters and what sanctions should be put in if british standards don't raise as quickly as european standards. >> look. the situation is serious, but i think it's in everybody's interest fundamentally that we reach a deal in relation to brexit both sides are apart, particularly on the issue of a level playing field and fisheries. so those are the key situations for us. >> reporter: but there is so much more to it. there are questions of pride, and there are questions of getting all of the countries in

europe to agree. one of the issues, of course, is that in america the presidency is in tran circumstance and where in the past american presidents might have weighed in to help europe in a difficult situation like this, that isn't looking likely there is even talk that there will be question marks over the british's ability to travel to europe and europeans' ability to travel to britain if they can't make a deal. keir simmons, nbc news, london. coming up next, janessa will have a look at our weekend weather. and the world's largest menoh s rawalit to celebrate the beginning of hanukkah. we'll tell you where the small ones you've been dreaming about. the ones you couldn't be more ready for, and even the ones that take you by surprise. these are the moments you'll remember,

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shop pandora jewelry and receive a free sterling silver bangle as our special gift to you. good morning, everyone you're going to start to hear on social media and everywhere about the big christmas star, jupiter and saturn, they're going to collide on the winter solstice, so these ooh going to create a nice bright sky i'll keep you updated going into next week if this will be visible. taking a look at your weekend forecast, man, we're watching this big winter storm for your saturday. sunday is the day you want to be outside across the northeast and east coast with temperatures back in the mid-60s. enjoy. >> just how we like it all right, jes, ansathank you.

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in today's top stories, a christmas miracle in south texas. the dramatic rescue of a 4-year-old boy who fell down a 44-foot well it took rescuers almost six hours to dig around the pit to reach the boy, who was trapped nine feet down and the water well was 10 inches wide. he's now in the hospital in stable condition. >> glad he's doing better. the u.s. space force is celebrating the graduation of seven recruits they will be working on monitoring and maintaining

satellites in earth's orbit. the space force is planning on adding more than 300 new recruits next year. ellen degeneres has announced she's tested positive for the coronavirus. the talk show host posted a statement to twitter she's told fans she's feeling fine and has followed all proper cdc guidelines they have paused employee ducz on ellen degeneres's show until january and will resume after the holidays which will make the show's usual 12 days of christmas giveaways much, much different this year. history has been made after a woman of color has won an election she's breaking down barriers to serve in the state she's the daughter of a vietnamese refugee and immigrant. she's been on the council since 2018 and she said being a new mom of a 6-month-old further fuels her capacity to serve her

community. a little light goes a long way. washington, d.c. celebrated the first night of hanukkah by lighting the menorah it had reduced capacity to allow for social distancing. >> and in new york city was the lighting of the world's largest menorah. the light was lit on the monument. "saturday night live" is live and the boss band is back in town. >> hi. i'm hosting "saturday night live" with musical guest bruce springsteen and the e street band. >> the whole cast is on. >> can i play dr. anthony fauci. >> this is the fourth time thir the host and fourth time for bruce springsteen and the whole band

thanks for waking up with us on "early today." i'm michelle fisher. >> and i'm phillip mena. plee please be safe out there. coming up on the "today" show, dr. richard besser he'll be talking ♪ ♪ life's more fun with a dog. and doglife is more fun with milk-bone. ♪ ♪

our plan is to take their recommendations into account and make a decision shortly thereafter. right now at 4:30 ready for approval. a big vote of confidence from an fda advisory board when it comes to pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. what has to happen next before hospitals can start injecting people. plus, who is next? health care workers on the frontline to receive the vaccine, but who comes after them? the big push several lawmakers are making. and after weeks and weeks, rain finally on the way to the