that is captioning sponsored by cbs >> yuccas: tonight, the final stretch. president trump casts his vote. >> i vote forward a guy named trump. >> yuccas: then hits the trail hard. a blitz of rallies in three battleground states as the pandemic takes a dangerous turn. >> by the way, i had it. here i am. >> yuccas: joe biden swings through must-win pennsylvania. >> i'll shut down the virus, not the economy. >> yuccas: also tonight, fall surge: america records its worst day ever for new infections. hospitals in some states overwhelmed. critical care: cbs news goes inside a wisconsin i.c.u. meet a heroic nurse on the front lines. >> these families that are being affected by this, that's what i'm fighting for. >> yuccas: plus, colorado battles its worst fires in history, while the threat to the west intensifies.

murder hornets: the search-and-destroy missions aimed at the invagd species. and later, special delivery: a sushi chef loses his shirt to save his business. >> this is this is the "cbs weekend news." >> yuccas: good evening. i'm jamie yuccas in los angeles. 10 days and counting, election day is drawing near, and the country's coronavirus crisis is getting worse. today marks the first-ever national vote-early day. many across the country did just that. take a look. joining more than 56 million americans who have already cast their ballots in person or by mail. also today, president trump barnstormed three battleground states as joe biden looked to reverse democratic fortunes in pennsylvania. cbs' nikole killion starts us off. >> reporter: on this national vote-early day, president trump cast his ballot in west palm

beach. >> i voted for a guy named trump. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: hoping others follow his lead, the president hop scotched to three battleground states saturday, including north carolina, where he mocked the pandemic... >> covid, covid! please don't go and vote, covid. >> reporter: ...and knocked opponent joe biden for his comments on the oil industry during thursday's debate. >> the last question, i said, "you mean you'd get rid of oil?" he said, "yes, i'd wean ourselves off of oil." i said we just won texas. we just won pennsylvania. we just won a lot of different places. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, the former vice president tried to shore up votes. >> it's go time. it's game day. we have 10 days left. it may come down to pennsylvania. >> reporter: with back-to-back events in two pivotal swing counties, biden brought out heavy hitters, like rocker bon jovi. ♪ town boy

>> reporter: and down in miami, former president barack obama, who renewed his rebuke of the president. >> if he can't answer a tough question like, "what would you like to do in your second term?" then it's our job to make sure he doesn't get a second term. and that's why over the next 10 days we've got to work hard to let joe biden and kamala harris, the next president and vice president of the united states. >> reporter: both campaigns are blanketing the battleground with top surgats. the president is getting help from vice president mike pence and his former u.n. ambassador nikki haley, while biden has deployed running mate kamala harris, his former rival, bernie sanders, and even the legendary singer cher. jamie. >> yuccas: all big names. nikole in the midst of all this campaigning, amy coney barrett appears to be moving closer toward confirmation, especially with the help of one more senator today. >> reporter: well, here in washington, alaska senator lisa

murkowski announced that she will vote for barrett, even though she opposed filling the vacancy right before the election. that means republicans will likely have the votes they need to confirm barrett monday. jamie. >> yuccas: nikole killion in washington, thanks so much. the coronavirus crisis in this country is taking a dangerous turn. cases are spiking, an in at leat 41 states. the number of people hospitalized is also setting records. more than 83,000 new cases were confirmed friday. that is the worst day yet. cbs' danya bacchus has the latest. >> reporter: the coronavirus crisis is intensifying. the surge causing pain across much of the nation. 15 states have now reached a pandemic peak in hospitalizations, and daily infections nationwide spiking 273% since the start of september. >> it will no doubt overwhelm many of our health care systems in this country. >> reporter: in montana, the

daily infection rate is up 500% in the past five weeks. ohio has more people hospitalized than at any other time during the pandemic. >> imagine if a bus, we had a fatal bus crash every week. would we act? yes. we would act. >> reporter: as the virus rages across the midwest, big ten football kicked off in the states where it's hitting the hardest without fans. >> we will have a law enforcement presence on campus and around the stadium. >> reporter: but america's health care system is being pushed to the brink, according to epidemiologist michael osterholm. >> we're going to end up experiencing the trifecta of shortages, doctors and nurses, protective equipment, and third we'll see major drug shortages, stretching the system beyond anything we've had in modern history. >> reporter: california saw a big spike in cases this week, but those higher infection numbers are because of a backlog in cases, all from l.a. county. over the next few days,

officials will be monitoring new test results to get an accurate covid case count. jamie. >> yuccas: dania, thank you. there will be much more on the election and covid crisis tomorrow on "face the nation." margaret brennan's guests including national security adviser, robert o'brien. arkansas governor asa hutchinson. and kansas city mayor quinton lucas. a police officer who fatally shot a black teenager in waukegan, illinois, has been fired. 19-year-old marcellis stinnette was killed, and his girlfriend wounded after the officer stopped the car she was driving earlier this week. according to police, the car started rolling backward when the unidentified officer approached. that's when he opened fire. the navy is investigating what caused a deadly plane crash. it happened friday when the training aircraft, a t6-texan ii, crashed into a home in the gulf coast town of foley. both crew members on board were killed. remarkably, no one on the ground was injured.

the colorado wildfires turned deadly overnight. an elderly couple who did not evacuate died together in their longtime home. cbs' omar villafranca has more. >> reporter: fast-moving flames from the east troublesome fire have torched more than 18,000 acres just overnight. the second largest fire in colorado history has burned almost 300 square miles, larger than the city of chicago. thousands have evacuated the towns of granby, estes park, and grand lake. but some have stayed behind, which can cause problems for crews combating the fire. >> when we have people in the area, that creates more danger for also, because oftentimes we'll get pulled into a rescue operation that risks the lives of our firefighters that are trying to save life and property. >> reporter: images from the front lines show what emergency crews are up against: 40-foot trees turned into giant fire sticks with waves of flames sweeping over the bone-dry

ridges. more than 700 crews from across the country are digging containment lines, but high wind and low humidity are making the fight to contain the fire difficult. >> these intense winds are blowing branches and parts of trees way away, and then, they start a fire there. and that becomes very dangerous for the firefighters. >> reporter: with the fire less than 10% contained, crews have not been able to search for victims or properly assess the damage. it was too windy today for helicopters to go up and drop water on hot spots, but there is snow in the forecast, which could help crews battle the flames. jamie. >> yuccas: omar, thank you. good news today from washington state. it came in a statement of two words: got them. today, federal agriculture authorities destroyed a murder hornet nest, releasing these images, showing dozens of the invasive insects trapped inside that long, clear tube. the nest of asian giant hornets, an invasive species, was the first ever found in the united

states. the two-inch insects are called murder hornets because they're predators of valuable honey bees. they were tracked with a tiny transmitter attached with dental floss. remarkable. now to an amazing story of survival. dash cam video captured this jeep-- look at that-- rolling down a mountainside near telluride recently. two people and their dog were sight seeing when the driver stopped and got out. that's when the car began rolling downhill. amazingly here, the woman in the jeep survived and is recovering. decker, their black lab, was found days later unharmed. lucky there. he was one of the pioneers of outlaw country music. ♪ i knew a man mr. bojangles and he danced for you ♪ >> yuccas: jerry jeff walker is best moan for that pop song. he wrote it with a street performer who called himself mr.

bojangles. the song became a big hit in 1971 for the nitty gritty dirt band. jerry jeff walker died friday of cancer at his home in austin, texas. he was 78. straight ahead on the "cbs weekend news," no middle ground in the midwest when it comes to fighting covid-19. cbs goes inside the surge in wisconsin. also, airlines try to ease travel jitters. the new solutions to get you home for the holidays. and later, the raw reactions to a sushi chef's beefy new delivery system.

the five deadliest days of the "people" so far. 145 dead. it's one of the worst hot spots in the country. this week, cbs' adriana diaz gained rare access to the state's biggest hospital, caring for some of the most critical patients. >> reporter: there are five covid units at aurora st. luke's

medical center in milwaukee. this i.c.u. is for the most critical. nurse ashley bonus has been here since the start, treating patients like 73-year-old attorney sue pappas. >> hi, sue. >> hi. >> how are you? >> reporter: like so many, she hardly left her house for months, but still ended up here. >> i can't explain it. i was pissed. i was really upset. my family busted their butt. >> reporter: to be safe. >> to be safe. and all of a sudden, i get it? this is nuts. >> reporter: what do you say to people who don't believe this is real? >> i-- i don't know what to say to them. i'm sitting here, i'm sicker than a dog, and it's real. >> reporter: her daughter and sister are infected, too. you okay? >> i wish people would take this serious. >> reporter: how do you think she's going to do? >> i feel good about her. i really do. >> reporter: are you worried about yourself? getting this?

>> initially, i would say yes. we... i'm a type 1 diabetic. i am also 17 weeks pregnant. >> reporter: ashley, you're pregnant and you're still choosing to come here and work in the covid unit every day. >> it was a hard decision to make, but it's also that emotional support during all of this. you-- you take me to a different i.c.u. in this hospital, and i'm not going to have the camaraderie that i have here. >> reporter: in the past month, the hospital's covid patients went from 20 to 77, nearly quadrupling. >> one, two, three. >> reporter: this patient has been here for more than two weeks. the reason why they're flipping the patient-- it's called "prong--" is because it's shown to help them breathe better and has been prove tone help covid patients survive. the securing the patient's head is dr. charles charles ojielo, who worries about the staff. >> at some point, fatigue begins to set in. how do we keep our staff refreshed and able to continue to do this, since it's lasting

longer and longer. >> reporter: it's been a marathon. >> it has been a marathon, and we don't know when it's going to end. >> when we started this, i asked my husband, who fought in the war in afghanistan as a marine, "how do you prepare for this battle?" he told me to figure out what you're fighting for and keep that at the forefront. so this community, these patients, these families that are being affected by this, that's what i'm fighting for. >> reporter: fighting batle every day in the war against covid. adriana diaz, cbs news, milwaukee. >> yuccas: such heroes. still ahead on the "cbs weekend news," making air travel safe again one test dummy at a time.

looming, there are efforts to make people feel safer about flying. as cbs' kris van cleave shows us, new cleaning methods and masks are going a long way. >> reporter: university of arizona researchers working with

boeing are applying a live virus that's harmless to humans but more resilient than covid-19 to airplane surfaces flyers are most likely to touch. they them applied the enhanced cleaning techniques airlines have been rolling out since the pandemic began: disinfectants, electrostatic sprars, antimicrobial coatings, and this ultraviolet light wand boeing developed to clean cockpits. the researchers found all four procedures were shown to effectively kill covid. >> it can give us a virus-free airplane. >> reporter: this follows research from the department of defense and darpa using a test dummy that simulates a coughing passenger spewing out the equivalent of thousands of coughs. when the dummy wore a mask, testing found on average just .003% of the particles reached another passenger's breathing zone. >> specifically, can i tell you sit in seat x,y,z? no, they all performed very well. >> reporter: this week, seven months into the pandemic, the

c.d.c. strongly recommended people wear a mask when flying, are in a transit hub, on mass transit, or in a ride share. airbus said its researchers found if passengers wear masks the number of droplets reaching another passenger is lower than what it would be on the ground with social distancing because of the plane's air circulation and hospital-grade filtration systems. infex disease expert dr. carlos del rio. >> it's not one thing. it's adding all the din things really makes plane travel very, very safe. >> reporter: the airlines say there are only about 44 docume documented cases of someone catching covid during a flight, and all but two of those happened before mask mandates were in place. but critics say it's very hard to know concrete numbers because so many people are asymptomatic, and contact tracing in the u.s. has been lacking. jamie. >> yuccas: all things to consider. kris, thank you. next on the "cbs weekend news," unprecedented revolt. protesters in thailand put the king on notice.

things, including a year of protests, both in the u.s. and abroad. this week, demonstrations against police brutality and state violence in nigeria turned deadly, claiming at least 12 lives. and today, tensions are high in thailand where prodemocracy protesters are demanding change. cbs' ramy inocencio has more. >> reporter: defiance against thailand's military leaders this weekend. the three-fingered salute from the "hunger games" movies and books the symbol of the opposition. this surge of anger coming after prime minister prayat chan-o-cha said he would not give in to protester demands to resign. in the past three months, mostly peaceful crowds, reportedly in the tens of thousands, have taken to the streets. demonstrators facing down police in riot gear, others against the

hard knock of water cannons. 16-year-old an ang is one of those passionate protesters. how are you feeling with the air of protests surrounding you and your friends? >> there is definitely an evident fear, but as long as there is hope, the fight will keep on going. >> reporter: the new king, masha vajiralongkorn, has been called corrupt. >> he reside in germany, where he is the king of thailand, but he lives in germany. i think that itself proves that he's an incompetent ruler. >> reporter: insults like that to thailand's royals are criminal, with a belief the king is a living god. until this generation. >> by not arowg the people to criticize the monarchy, it's simply saying they are above us, and ultimately what we're fighting for is democracy, freedom and equality. >> reporter: in mid-october a group of protesters allegedly harassed the queen's motorcade, a move they denied. the prime minister called a state of emergency, banning

public gatherings of five or more people, and targeting media groups critical of the government. >> you know what? we had the police in front of our office every day. >> reporter: he is a news anchor for online broadcaster voice tv, suspended for allegedly reporting false information. >> we just put the live video up of the protesters, what they were doing on the street. that's it. >> reporter: and thailand's people-powered protests show no signs of slowing. ramy inocencio, cbs news, beijing. >> yuccas: when we return, meet the sushi chef who added beefcake to his menu.

restaurants around the world are struggling to stay in business during the pandemic. cbs' lucy craft found an enterprising sushi chef in japan who realized losing his shirt

was the key to staying open. >> reporter: masanori sugiura of japan is bonkors about body building. his chiseled pecs and bulgy biceps won the 41-year-old dad third place in a competition earlier this year. his day job: sushi chef. he runs a catering company founded by his grandfather. but in april, after the pandemic struck, the 60-year-old business teetered on oblivion, forced to lay off his entire staff, sugiura of the at his wit's end. your sales were down 90% in april. what was it like to be struggling to survive back then? >> ( translated ): i was consumed by anxiety. i didn't know what to do. >> reporter: sugiura started home delivery. but first he needed to muscle out the competition. now when sugiura goes to work, hoe rolls up his sleeves and the rest of his shirt. customers who buy a tray of sushi get 180 pounds of beefcake on the side. up to 10 orders a day roll in

for his delivery macho service. it's not enough to cover lost sales, but across the country, customers are salivating over abs of steel sushi, as during this demonstration at a local architectural firm. "it's exciting," this woman said. "i'm a little jealous. he has what i don't." why has this become such a viral hit in japan? >> ( translated ): brawny hunks are a rarity here. sometimes customers tell us to forget the sushi and just send a macho man for two or three hours. >> reporter: to which sugiura says, "please, we're a sushi restaurant." lucy craft, cbs news, japan. >> yuccas: hey, i get it. being single in this pandemic, i would be ordering a lot of sushi if i lived in japan. it's tough out there. that's the "cbs weekend news" for this saturday. later on cbs, "48 hours." and don't forget "sunday morning" with jane pauley first thing tomorrow. i'm jamie yuccas in los angeles. have a great night.

live in the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix5 news. the bay area city taking it unusual steps by asking people to leave ahead of what is expected to be the biggest wind event of the year. if they try to get out through this road, it will be suicide. i mean, no other word for it. they got pretty good at preparing for them. we have that story coming up. don't let this incredibly gorgeous fall day fool you, we are still on track for the significant wind event and i want to show you how this one will be felt differently than all the other ones we have seen so far this season. that evening, thank you for joining us. i'm juliette goodrich. >> i am brian hackney.

it will leave much of the bay area on edge this weekend. powerful wind and dry conditions could trigger another round of pg&e blackouts as early as tomorrow. here is a look at the impacted areas, including every bay area county except for san francisco. the majority of customers impacted are in napa, sonoma, and marin counties. and much of the higher elevations in the east bay are also at risk, along with thousands of customers in san mateo and santa clara counties. pg&e is expected to give an update on the safety shutoffs any moment now and when they do, we will bring it to you live. with the extreme fire danger expected tomorrow, city of berkeley is urging people in the hills to get out now. some streets in the hills are so narrow they can barely fit a fire trucks, so it takes a long time to evacuate when there is an emergency. there bringing in more fire crews and positioning engines in the hills. >>