captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. the newshour tonight, at long last-- congress passes a massivl covid reliefas the economy continues to struggle and many americans remain out of work. then, crisis management-- we speak to michigan governor gretch whitmer about the challenges of a vaccine rollout and restrictions imposed on citizens amid the pandemic. and, an outsized impert-- older woin the u.s. face the double threat of fewer job prospects and a higher level of risk fm covid. >> the older worker finds it more difficult to locate an employer willing to offer them that kind of a job or even a job that pottially in five years

time will get em back to their previous peak. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> architect. bee-keeper. mentor. a raymonjames financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photoapher, or a bit everything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consercellular.tv

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed ait engaged comms. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. woodruff: the united states congress is home tor the

holidaight, after approving aid for an economy battered by the pandemic.d the colief headlines a bill that runs nearly 5,600 pages, the longest ever. william brangham begins our coverage. >> the motion to concur is reed to. the senate came jueforeova midnight: this mega deal includes economic relief and a catch-all spending bill to fund the government for the rest r. the fiscal y in wilmington, delaware today, president-elect biden hailed the outcome.gr >> cs did its job this week. i can and i must ask them to do it again next year. but even with the changes in proach i'm going to put in place in late january, people are still going to bsick and dying from covid. >> brangham: the bill now awaits president trump's signature. the covid-relief measure is expected to impact millions of americans. it includes direct payments of $600 each for those earning less

than $75,000 a year. supplemental benefits of $300 more each week for 11 weeks for the unemployed, that's over and above state benefits. $25 billion in rental assistance. an extension of the c.d.c.'s moratorium on evictions. an$248 billion for the arycheck protection program to helphit small businesses. it leaves out any aid for state , d local governments as democrats wantd liability protection for businesses, as republicans wanted. e anwhile, as millions of americans await imulus checks, some are waiting for their covid vaccinations. elderly residents at a retirement community in sumter county, florida received theirs today. governor ron de santis vowed to go all out, in a state with a large population of seniors: >> as we get into the general community, vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is

the greatest. >> brangham: elsewhere, at the national institutes lth in bethesda, maryland, six front line workers received their vaccinations today along with secretary of health and human services, alex azar. >> i am just so grateful to n.i.h. and moderna and all the participants in operation warp speed for bringing us to this point where now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. >> brangham: n.i.h. director dr. francis collins got his shot as well, as did dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. >> i want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get veil of protectionthiscan have a country that would end this pandemic. >> brangham: that protection cannot come soon enough, especially in california, where the number of serious infections is overwhelming hospitals, and intensive care beds are at zero capacity. >> we are getting crushed.

for most of the days for the last week we have had zero i.c.u. beds open in the morning have had to scramble, can we move this patient here, can we move that patient there. >> brangham: los angeles county currently leads the countr iin both covidections and deaths, with more than 634,000 cases and 8,900 deaths. the los angeles times reports that nearly 2900 californians have died from covid-19 in just the past two weeks. dr. christina ghaly is direcr for the l.a. county department of health services. >> when you have 1 in every 64 people who might be infected out there, you start to see how you can very quickly lead to massive escalations in the number of cases. hospitals do more than care for covid patients. they just don't have the staffing and the resources that are available to be able to care for all of the patients that need that acute level of cares and that peryone's lives at risk. >> brangham: dr. ghaly

warned of what may lie ahead, after the holidays. >> just stay at home.ow i hat that's not what hayone wants for the holiday. it's not wt i would want for the holiday either. but s need to get through thi and we're only going to get through this if everyone cme ogether and do their part. >> brangham: california state officials issued a new warning wshour, i'm william brangham. >> woodruff: states across the country continue to grapple witf the economlout of covid-19 as they also develop plans to deliver the vaccine to millions of americans. for the view from michigan, isp e to democratic governor and i began by askat the. covid relief bill will mean for people in r state and what more she wants to see from the federal gornment. >> well, i think it's really step forward, ans notook this nearly enough, it does not nearly address everything that we are confronting as states across the country, and governors on both sides of the aisle have been very clear, we need additional resources so that we can make sure that we'rt doing our jo build out

vaccine administration and taking cre of first responders, et cetera. but this will help withn evict protections and getting some who are really struggling. so we're glad for it but recognize there's more work to be done.dr >> wf: governor, i want to ask you about the vaccine shipment that micgan received. you were pretty vocal a few days ago in saying athat happened was wrong.ed you even af there was corruption or whether it was ineptitu that led to the fact that michigan got only about half of the vaccine that it was supposed to t, the pfizer vaccine. now that you know me about what the cause of that was, what is your view? do you think michigan was singled out isome way? >> well, i don't. i was giving voice to a problem that governors across the country areonfronting, whether it's in iowa, florida or i know that governors are trying

to build out an at rats to administer vaccines and, yet, we are reliant on the federal government to deliver, and we expe them to deliver wt they are telling us is on the way. so when it shows up as a fraction of what we're expecting, that means that there'waste, that means we're not inoculang people, and i wanted to know why. so i was glad that general perna owned it and apologized for it. that doesn't happenery frequently with this administration, but what we do need is e have somconfidence and accuracy so that, as statese we'ry when the vaccine comes to our states and we're getting them in people's arms a quickly as we possibly can. >> woodruff: so you accept is explanation for what hap he said it was a miscommunication? >> that's what he said. i'm hopeful that is the case ant they wake that mistake again but, certainly, we will be holdg people accountable because lives are depending on our ability to vaccinate the people of our state >> woodruff: governor, in terms of restrictions there in

the ate of michigan connected to covid, in the last few day you've announced that some of them have been have been loosen. after good news, we see i guess the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations in michiganv both of these e gone down. what do you owe this sign of progress to? >> well, following the science and making the tough decisions to take action to combat the spread. we have community spread in states all aoss the nation. the midwest, that's certainly true, where we are, and, , michigan is in a stronger position than any of our neighboring states because i've t been shy to take action where my experts are telling me it will make a difference, and sure enough, this pause is working. it's all vy precarious, though, and that's why staying tethered to science and listening to the experts isss absolutelytial. >> woodruff: and, governor, in

connection with that, again, state legislature, in michigan, has jus in the last few days, passed two bills aimed at liting your powers and the ability of otherso restrict in a health is.ties. what does this say to you about therespect that you're given, about how people see your role as governor inh handling tis pandemic? >> well, i think it's less about me and more about t politics of 2020 and the trump administration's intentionalon politicizaf a public health crisis. this virus does not care bout oupolitics, it doesn't stop at state lines. this is a moment where we should be unified as a nation against a common enemy. the work that i'm doing is aocused on the science an saving lives andving the ves of everyone in michigan,

whether they're supportive of our policies or not, that's my job as governor and i'm going to keep doing it and this legislation will need a veto by my pen anwe're goi to continue to move forward and try to find common ground becatause ultimately what we need to do. >> woodruff: do you expect more efforts in michigan to try to limit your power, you ability to impose restrictions when necessary?ul >> i n't be surprised, but, judy, here's the thing -- i'm not going to bel bulied into not following the science or not doing what i know to be the right thing. lives are on the line, and michigan has been a leader in saving lives. i'm proud of the work that we've done. wee not out of the woods yet, but there's hope, and it's coming right out of portage, michigan, hewith pfizer vaccine and the moderna vaccine that's available now as well. >> woodruff: finally, governor, you wer as everybody knows, the victim overan intended kidnapping plot back in october. pe le were,ankfully,

arrested, but, since then, others have been threatened, not just in michigan but around the country, opposing your handling and the handling of others of this virus. your secretary of state, the director of the state department of agriculture, michigan state health director, all of them have had protesters come to their homes. we're seeinghis happening around the country. how worried are you about these kinds of activities? how dangerous are they? i think that the rhetoric that has played out in 2020 has a cost, and people of od ill on both sides to have the aisle have to -- on botsides of the aisle have to call it out and say domestic terrorism is not tolerable. if not, iton't be long before it's turned on you who don'tsp k out. it's important we recognize this is not normal or acceptable. whether it's dr. fauci or

republican secretary of state in georgia or the demratic secretary of state in michigan, it will not be tolerated. >> woodruff: do you have vencern that it's going to dri people out of government? >> i think that that is a logical possibility. i'm hopeful that it doesn't. what i havseen, thogh, is, even though dr. fauci has gotten threats, there are more people going to medical school now because of dr. 'suci. so thenspiration even in these toughest moments ois , and there is always opportunity in government for people of good will who want to serve the pulic. >> woodruff: governor gretchen whitmer, we're going to leave it the governor of the state of michigan, and, governor, wwish you the very best for the holidays and we certainly hope that improvement in covid in michigan continue thank you. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: president-elect biden spoke today from delaware ged addressethe pandemic s and the relief package ahead of the holiday. yamiche alcindor was at thed event ins me now from wilmington. so, heo, yamiche. tulsz about what -- tell us more about what thele president had to say in these days leading up to christmas. he had a pretty dire warning, didn't he? jo reporter: that's right. president-elecbiden rely issued a stark warning to americans as, of course, 320,000 americans have now died from the coronavirus pandemic. he said that amerins are goin to need to steel their spines and be ready because hehe said t darkest days are ahead of us, not behind us. that, of course, is remarkable, thinking about all the things people lived thrgh in 2020. but he said i' going to give it to you straight and tell you the truth about this. he said the covid vaccine is

great, promising, we're hopin to get it to as many americans as poible, but he said the vaccine won't stop people from dying. he was making the contrast because president trump has downplayed the coronavirus pandemic, has been accused of pred having disinformation taint the pandemic, so that was joe biden in some ways separating himself fr he's going to be taking over from. he also said he's willing and wanting to work with congress, t tryiget more covid relief done. of course, we have been covering this all week with lisa giving us a play-by-play. he says once he ces into office he wants to see a new bill. he says this is really a downpayment. a few weeks ago, joe biden told me en i was qustioning him, he wanted to see billions of new dollars poured into the economy, not trillions but billions and twe have to keep waching what exactly he does. >> woodruff: different subject, yamiche, he addressed the reported byspected hack the russians of u.s. government agencies, private coes, what are we learning? what are you learning about how

he planso respond, himself, to all this? >> reporter: well president-elect biden left this squarely in the fault of president trump. he said this happeneprunder ident trump's watch. he said these hackers that look like they are russian hackers, experts say that, that they are really people who caught the united states off guard and unprepared. he said that president trump, while he's still in office for these 20-odd days left, that he really needs to do something he also said he pledged he would get ready and get the country and the government more protected. i questioned him spefically can you ensure americans that these government agencies that were targeted including the department of homeland security and state department, will theys e when you are president and he said, judy, i cannot. that in some ways is a remarkable statement, thinking about the fact that there's so much at stake and that experts have said we're not sure we'll know important russia is continuing to be in those networks and whether or not we'll be able to remove them in quick time period or if it will

take years to do so. >> woodruff: now, more broadly, yiche, we are expecting the president-elect to announ more picks for his cabinet this week, including for secretary of education. what are you hearing aout all that? >> that's right, the biden administration, the biden transition team, they're continuing to make picks, thntinuing to do the work, even gh i should say president-elect biden said today they're not getting all the cooration they want to especially when it comes to the defense department as well as ofother pockethe government. that being said, we know that present-elect biden is expected to pick miguel cardona, a erto rican education official. commissioner, he wo aeducation former public school teacher and principal. he's seen as a life long champion for public schools, much different than pets bets, the current education secretary. also, he has pushed for schools to reopen du criid. people allies of cardona says

will be turning the u.s.to education backpublic schools h. a lot of critics of betsy vos say she was focused too much on school choice, the private sector and not doing enough to help public schools especially during thpandemic. i also think it's interesting he is pressing for schools to be reopened during the perching. re's saying essentially there are too many chileft behind in the middle of the pandemic. that's in some waysa controversial idea but there are, of course, people who want to see more students in hools and others, who have been, who say it's just not safe. >> woodruff: and finally, yamiche, turning president trump, he is continuing to push thesede unfo claims of wired fraud in the election that want l to his defeat, but today we see two of his prominent allieths ine media backing away from that. what have you learned about h whatpened here?

>> woodruff: this is pretty remarkable. we saw unusual walkbacks from fox news and newsmax, a smaller conservative network. they brtked away from reping they were doing insinuating that voting machines -- somehow the votes may have been changed because to have the machines. what we saw wer two companies then threaten those networks with legal action saying youre essentially lying about our companies. we then saw fox news and newsmax say, in fact, that there is no evidence that voting machines fraud there.anged or any sort of it's really important because president trump has continued to make the cas, even though there is no evidence, even though he lost in court case after court case, he continues to make the case that these voting machines were messed with and that's thes reason he t the 2020 election. in some ways we're seeg the media outlets back away from the president's claims. it's also notable because allies of the president telling me as well oth reporters that they are increasiny worried the president wants tothgo ugh more means to take back

the election, thinking about putting in a special counsel to oversee election fraud and other means. there are a lot of peoplowho are veryied about the president's actions. but the media companies walking these things back as well as the president continuing to say things that are very scary tell us where we are at this moment where the president still has29 abouays left in august. >> woodruff: sounds like this threat of legal action had something to do with what happened. yamiche alcindor reporting, again, on the outgoing president and the incoming one. thank you, yamiche. >> woodruff: the major bills passed by congress were focusedo first anmost on covid relief and economic assistance. buthey included other

significant pieces of legislation, some years in the making. one of those is a bipartisan empromise to ban many of surprise medical bills people receive. william brangham gets the details on what people need to know.ng >> bm: judy, these surprise bills come when a patient goes to an emergency room or a hospital believing their insurance will cover their tyeatment. but in that faciif they get care from an out-of-network doctor or other provider who doesn't accept the patient's insurance, that's when patients can get saddled with significant bills. studies show one in every five e.r. visits leads topriseey bill, and an cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, money that most people cannot afford.t the new law as just passed aims to end these practices. rah kliff of the "new york times" has long been

spotlighting this problem and she joins me now. sarah, great to have you back on the "newshour". what does this new bill block? >> this means if y are unexpectedly treated by someone who isn't in your instwurance k -- maybe you go to the emergency room and your doctor doesn't accept their insurance -- they cannot bill you anythi beyond your standard co-pay or deductible. essentially, the insurancemp y and the the doctor have to sort things out on their own. this takes the patient out ofle the mif these negotiations and says, you know, you cannot bill the patithent any mor you would if it was an in-network provider. >> reporter: so in this bill, once these changes take place what happens if i go to a hospital and end up with a surprise bill because a provider who i thought was in network is not and they perform some procedure one, there generates this bill bill, then who ends up paying? what happens there? >> what happens, that's right, you cannot get saddledith that

big bill anymore. what happens is the insuranceth company and thdoctor are going to have to figure out a fair price. in these cases, if they're not in network, that means there's some kind of a dispute, they don't agree on the right price for the service. under the law they will have to go to impatient arbiter who they will make their case to, here's why i think this is the right price, and the arbiter will make a decision about what that person should get paid. so essentially the patient is not on the hk, the insurance company and the the doctor need to work with this neutral arbiter to figure out the right price. >> reporter: help me understand the ambulance discrepancy in this bill. an air ambulance, when you're taken via helicopter, this bill blocks you from being saddledrp with a sse bill for that. but for ground ambances, which are not quite as expensive but still very pricey, those are not covered. why is that? >> yeah, this was a pretty significanomission on the part

of congress because we know that ground ambulances generate a prty significant number of surprise bills, by one estimate 71% of ambulance rides are out of network. whene talked to legislators about this, they said they are concerned out the issu they do think it's important to solve this ground ambulance part of the surprise billing. they just did not feel that they had the capacity to do it in is legislative go around. they were under lobbyingo pressure m doctors and hospitals trying to find the solution that works for everyone, so they said ground ambulances will have to wait for future legislation in order to deal with that particular >>surprise bill. eporter: for people who don't know how severe a financial hit this can be for individual, could you just give reporting about what these bills can do to someo t? >> yea one that really jumps out at me from this summer is a woman very ill with coronavirus and she was airlifted from one hospital to another one because she needed more extensive and int care.e the patient was on a ventilator,

she was unconscious. the first hospitalas in network, the second hospital was in network, but that air of network,s o and she ended up with a $52,000 bill for that enight bet hospitals that lasted about 20 minutes. this is really your classic surprise medical bill. the patient has literally no say in the servis that are being provided. they're unconscious when they're being provided to her, and, before now, there were no protections. it was completely illegal for this air ambulance company to send this woman a $52,000 bill.g once these rulo into effect in 2022, that type of bilge just is not going tbe legal anymore. >> reporter: that is an amazingly big pill. you have also repllorted these are not just a consequence of our byzantine medical syste but that, in some ways, were engineered on purpose to make a profit. who is doing that? >> so these were somerivate equity firms who kind of

realized there was an opportunity to profit off this type of billing and what we saw happening, you know, just a few years ago was private equitywo firmd buy up doctors' staffing groups, these doctors who stnff emergency rooms,d they'd pull them out of network and all of a sudden the raitsd u would just sho so we thaw that this wasn't just, you know, a mistake or, you e now, surance company and one doctor not coming to an agreement. e cases, these were private equity-created models for how to drive profits back to those folks but also was on the backs of the patients paying the bills. >> woodruff: sarah kliff of the "new york times," thanks for helping us understand all of this. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, california secretary of state alex padilla will be the first latino to represent the state in the united states

senate. governor gavin newsom appointed him today to succeed fellow democrat kamala harr she is vacating the seat to become vice president.r expired senate term runs through 2022. israel has called a new election for march, the fourth in less than two years. the coalition government collapsed tonight in a budget feud. prime minister benjamin netanyahu will now face challenges from fellow far-right politicians, and from the center-left. s at te time, he is on trial for corruption. france has now lifted its ban on trucks entering britain after trying to confine a new variante of covid 19 ified in the u.k. but drivers must first test negati for covid. hundreds of trucks had been waiting nearly channel ports in england after france barred their entry. the stpage had raid the potential of food shortages in britain and left the truckers

frustrated. meanwhile, pfizer's german partner meanwhile, pfizer's german partner biontech voiced confidence that thr vacce will work against the new variant of the virus. protests ramped up in armenia today, demanding the prime minister resign over a military defeat by neighboring azerbaijan. armenia surrendered much of disputed nagorno-karabakh and surrounding areas after 44 days of fighting. today, thousands of protesters packed yerevan, the armenian capital. they set up tents around government buildings as police looked on. the u.s. justice department sued walmart today, charging that it fueled the opioid crisis. retailer sold thousands ofnt prescriptions that it knew were invalid.ar waclaims it is being blamed for the federal government's failures io police

s. on wall street, congressional passage of covid relief did little to excite the market. the dow jones industrial average 30,015.1 points to close at the nasdaq rose 65 points, but, the s&p 500 slipped seven. and, in spain, some 20 ticket holders have won top prizes-- $489,000 each-- ithe annual christmas lottery known as "el gordo", or the "fat one". keeping with tradition, children from a madrid school called out the winning numbers today. lottery workers celebrated at a shop that sold a winning ticket. the drawing dates to 1763. nice to have something to celebrate for a change. still to come on the "newshour", older americans faced a still to come on the newshour: older workers face the double threatf fewer job prospects and a higher level of risk from the pandemic.

newshour's malcolm brabant reports from home as his family comes down with covid-19. and the director of the n.b.a. players' union discusses another season amid the coronavirus >> woodruff: the celief bill passed by congress will provide urgent help to many around the country. but the size of the aid smaller than many economists sa is need millions still struggle to find full-time work. for many older americans who've lost their jobs, prospects are especially dim; eir savings, ever more eaten away. economics correspondent paul solman looks at what they are facing. it's part of our serielder

workers: "unfinished business." >> at 75, it's difficult to persuade people to take you on. >> you know, i lost my home and, you know, my job. >> i haven't worked since may and it's been hard. >> i have about $250 in my checking account. and i have $100 in savings. >> reporter: is that your entire cushion, financial cushion? >> yes, it is. it is. >> reporter: of course, this b year hasn crushing for almost all of us.ca e of covid. but especially for older americans without savings or a well-paying work-from-home job. >> i did start taking antidepressants. my c.o.p.d. has gotten worse. know, there's a limited amounto of stuff i canfore i have to take a break, >> i'm not able to buy gifts fog ndbabies. and that's the biggest things that really huat i'm not able to purchase what i wohad

like to pu for them for christmas. >> reporter: older workers are really u of reasons. for a host first, of course: age and the bias against it, says 59-year- old donna rushing. >> i call it the invisible stage of life where u stand at the meat counter and everyone is heed around you except you it's just this invisible thing in age.ppens at a certain point >> reporter: and indeed, says labor economist teresa ghilarducci... >> older workers have a mu harder time finding another job. they're on unemployment longer. >> reporter: latest numbers: almost a million people 55 plusu of work for half a year or more. and if and when they do find a job, good luck getting anything that pays nearly as well as before, said gary burtless pre- pandemic. >> the older worker finds it more difficult to locate an employer willing to offer them that kind of a job or even a job that potentially in five years time will get them back to their previous peak. >> reporter: office worker and

nanny celia stevens has been jobless since march, has no prospects. >> you just get so beat up interview after interview when they're not hiring you, ahh, she's an older lady.we you knoweed somebody younger.wa always being interviewed by, you know, 20, 30 year olds.m and it's reallional for me to go through that again. that was hard. er>> reporter: 62-year-old victoria taylor has been striking out on her job search nce her layoff in may. >> i haven't found anything yet. work because i'm aworker,e to a dedicated worker, and i just hate the fact that i'm unable to work now >> reporter: 66-year-old ohio fdriver dave heinfeld car a sick wife, said he wouldn't deliver to fooprocessing plants. he was canned. >> i just didn't want to py russian roulette with my health. if i was 30 instead of 66, it would all r different. orter: heinfeld has

stopped looking for work, as have roughly one million older workers who've dropped out of the labor force in the past year. >> he's got license plate arms. here's his heart. these are from a new mexico brewery. >> reporter: celia stevens has been crafting to keep afloat. >> it's just my way of, you know, let's keep grandma off the streets.ju recently sold some of my crafts. i only made $50 dollars, but hey, $50 is $50. so that's like one utility. >> reporter: at 62, stevens just received her first monthly social security payment: $987, a lifesaver. but if she lives into her 70s d beyond, it's going to cost her, says researcher nahree reei >> if you social security before full retirement age, which at this point is 67, so if you do it at 62, when you're basically slash your monthly check compared to if you had waed until age 67. >> reporter: but tt's a luxury stevens can't afford, much less

wait until 70 for the maximum benefit. >> i'm just i'm just squeezing by. >> reporter: donna rushing, too young for social surity, was building a 401k with help from her employer. >> it was one of my only hopes of having a retirement becse they matched, you know, basically a large percentage of my salary. >> reporter: and she didn't just lose her job in summit county colorado. >> but i lost my housing that was attached to this job as well. and i moved about an hour away in with my boyfriend, if i hadn't had this place to go to, where would i be? >> reporter: researcher nahree ree's own mother needed a retail job to supplement social security. but the store closed. and due to covid, her mom says it's too risky to work. >> there's the question of when does the money run out? and then there's a question of when does my body give out? >> reporter: but re also has to worry about her daughter.

>> i have i have a child and i have i have a mothers in her 70s. how do i save for my daughter's college fund? and then and then help support my mother when she really needs it.an we're also still in the process of trying to save enough for our own retirement. >> reporter:onna rushing has family to help. >> so it really is just me out there. so that's part of the sinking feeling. i don't have relates. i don't have children. you know, i'm out there. >> reporter: and that makes the future even scarier. >> i could actually really be living out of my car.ha what's going ten in 10 years? that's going to go so quick, i'll be almost 7 where can i go to afford to live? >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, this is paul solman, more and more gratef the job i'm lucky enough to have.

>> woodruff: now, we return to britain, and the pandemic. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been to some of europe's virus hotspots during and demonstrations in britain, germany and poland. he has not been affected, until now. as he explains from his home in n ighton, southern england, he islf isolation with his wife treena and son lukas. >> reporter: this is day one of self isolation. i got an email from the nationaa health service and trace service a few hours ago to say that i had to isolate myself until december 23. and that's because my son has tested positive. he's upstairs at the tthe house right now, and my wife is al showing symptoms. we've got a small house, but hopefully we c compartmentalize it in such a

way that both wife and my son can stay out of my way. >> so i think i contracted covid last week at a studio that i was filming at for two days straight, two six hour shoots. and with the amount of people there, there were at least 30pe le in the room at once. >> we got the results this morning. lukas tested positive.st i negative, i'm sure, if i went now and had a test it would be positive as well. oh, i'm just feeling too sick to go out. i mean, the whole idea of having to get into a car, go to a test and oh, i just cannot do it, i'm >> reporter: i'm in the kitchen right now, everything's a bit of i've just come bacfrom a trip to poland and i'm making chicken soup, which hopefully will ease their sore throats. ig i have a fever, quite a fever. but it feels more like a flu for me, at this point, i don't have trouble breathing. i can breathe without any problems.

>> lukas, put your mask on. lukas it's on the stairs.lu it's been abtely horrible. hey bubsie. >> so, one hour i could be coughing my lungs up, the next hst be sitting there in t and cold flushes.yi it's really an. there are so many things i had planned to do. >> my biggest concern habeen our son, lukas, because lukama was born prerely. >> congratulations. >> thanks very much. >> even though he's today a tall and big and healthy guy, he still has scar tissue in his lungs. so he has very weak lungs his lung capacity is not normal. so for him to catch covid has iten one of my worst nightmares. >> i'm not sayinerrifies me, but with my health history, et is a fear that it could

lot worse for me and it could go downhill very quickly. i'm just hoping that if it stays the way it is right no i've gotten a very lucky escape. >> reporter: what we don't knowi is which v of covid lukas has. the new mutation which has gotit much of europe into a panic, and has caed the british prime b ministis johnson to do yet another u turn? >> given the early evidence we n have on th variant of the virus,he potential risk it poses, it is with a very heavy noart i must tell you we c continue with christmas as planned. >> mhusband says i worry too much, but i do also worry about his health. >> reporter: there's a good reason why usually shoot myself in just head and shoulders. it's because i don't sant people to the size of my stomach. as you probably gathered, it's pretty big. >> my husband is obese. >> reporter: therefore i am at much greater risk than oer folk. i am active.

i ride a bike, i walk the do filming actually sort of helps you keep reasonably fit. nevertheless, i am vulnerable, so i really do have to try to protect myself. >> my husband had in 2011 a very, very severe reaction to another vaccine. >> reporter: i have to stress that what happened to me nine years ago was extremely rare and highly individual. it was a well publicized case of the yellow fever vaccine which every doctor who treatede said was responsible for causing a psychosis. but this vaccine is totally different, the one that's going have to be wary about it and for the time being, i'm not going to take it, and that's as a result of advice from the british a regulatohority the m.h.r.a., which says that people tho've had bad reactions i past shouldn't take it. >> we were looking at two se we know from the vextensive.

clinical trials that this wasn't feature. but if we need to strengthen our advice, we get that advice to the field immediately. >> reporter: i need to explore this further. despite everything that happened to me, i'm not an anti vaxxer. and let's face it,e can't go on living like this. we have to get bk to normal. so to reassure myself ve been talking to a really good old friend of mine who i went to school with,ho rose to be one of britain's top psychiatric pharmacists. his name is professor stephen bazire, and he's been explaini how this new vaccine works, in an attempt to ease my fears. >> i don't think having had that adverse reaction in the past makes any difference to this vaccine, the pfizer vaccine is not an attenuated or killed live bacteria or virus. the route is to get your body to create part of it, which you can produce antibodies to, and then you become immune to the full blown virus. >> day six of isolation. i am, of course, still very worried aboumy husband.

but my main concern this morning is our son, lukas. yesterday, lukas' oxygen saturation started to drop into the lower 90 that's not a good place to be for anyone, especially notso one with a lung condition. this morning, it's back up into the mid ninetieserwhich is a belace to be. but i'm watching him like a >> reporter: it's bit of a lousy night. i haven't slept very much because i've been worrying about lukas, but i'm relieved that his oxygen sats are improvin because otherwise we'd have hadh to send hiospital. he's had a reapoy lousy year, lad, and i mean, it's we're into more than 270 days in lodown. he's at zoomiversity. he's a musician. i have to say that the song he beene in lockdown has neve more apposite. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ take my hand, take my heart ♪ all the things that you tore apart ♪ ♪ i don't want to be alone >> being in >> being in isolation is

necessary, there is no doubt about it. we've got to stop this virus. it's driving me up the walls. >> reporter: day seven of isolation. fingers crossed, things are looking good. i haven't got any symptoms, trine's improving, lukas is certainly holding his own, wre one day closer to freedom. i don't know what we'll find when we get to the supermarkets because there's been panic buying as a result of britain being cut off from the rest of europe. but as a family, we're notly particulothered about christmas, we've always thought if we could survive 2020, that would be fantastic.an that has to remain our aim. woodruff: what a special story. that is our malcolm brabant reporting from his home, as you heard, on england's southern coast. malcolm, know that all of your colleagues here are thinking besthoughts for you, treena, and lukas. and, i know so many of your admirers in our audience share our affection. thank you. all of you get better.

>> woodruff: the n.b.a. is set to tip off its new season tonight. it comes after the shortest off- season in league hisry, just abt two months since lebn james and the los angeles lakers emerged as champions. but inead of playing in a bubble again, teams will travel and play in their home stadiums. michele roberts is a crucial part of all of this since she represents the players as the executive director of the n.b.a. players association. she helped devise the bubble plan last season and i recently oke with her about the michelle roberts, thank you very much for joining us. it was just a short time before this coronavirus shutdown hit that you had announced your retirement, but here we are, the end of december, and you've had quite a year battling this

pandemic and the effect on theon se it hasn't been what you expected, has it been? >> no, it hasn't been what anybody expected. clearly announced our retirement. i did not for one seconk that 2020 would develop the wa it has. so i clearly have not retired, goill planned to, but we'v to got a bit of a ways to go before i think i can comfortably leave thteam. >> woodruff: you helped design the bubble, the wellnown bubble that professional basketball players orated in for the season this year, it worked remarkably well. why not continue that for the right around the c gets underway >> well, it worked. obviously, it worked well because we were able to complete the season, crown a champion and not have the possible horribles that we envisioned could have happened.

but i will tell you, judy and i was there for three months with the players, it ain't easy. it's the isolation with significant players were fabulous and plowing through it. and for those teams that ended up being there for essentially i four monthtook a bit of a toll. i meanthese are these are and god knows, i could not be prouder of them.ct but the prosof returning to a bubble for a period of five or six months was not something we took seriously. frankly, we were if we needed to do it in order to guarantee they safety of our s, we would have done it. but we watched very closr y what the otagues were doing and decided to at least try to begin bbe season outside of the environment, very strict health and safety protocols and epefully will avoid a bub again. but it is not e first resort at this point in last resort.

>> woodruff: i hear you saying strict safety protocs, and yet you are starting up againse anotheon as the virus is spiking all over the country, there are warning signs all around and college basketball, they've been canceling games by s.the scores, if not hundr how coerned are you that maybe this is being rushed? >> i can't say i have no concerns. i mean, i must say and i will say that if i thought my concerns were significant enough for us not to play, we wouldn't be playing. we've spent a lot of time and taking a lot of advice from those people with the super skills, the special skills that know more about this stuff than we do. and we believe that we have constructed health and safety protocols, the best health a safety protocols available for play outside of a bubble. but understand that that's not going to twist the minute. it appears that the protocolssu are not fficient to guarantee our player safety.

then the season stops andow everybody that going in. so the timing is terrible. right. but we did not see the second surge that is now upon us coming. en we decided to restart in december, we made the decision. but you know wha ks comforting wing that this is not a decision that cat be reversed on a on a on a dime and it will be reversed on a dime if it appears that the procols are just not holding. >> woodruff: i'm asking because i have read the crits or at least the questioners saying why not start a lile bit later, even if it means even if it s,ans less revenue for the for the teess income for the players and just be really, truly safe. >> part of it, we've got a number of stakeholders in this in this game, it's obviously the players. we have to be partners. we have we have arenas. we there are a number of people that, frankly, make their living on this game. my primary concern are the players, obviously, and while i

won't pretend that revenue is not a factor that everybody is considering, we talked about when to start the season. it's also the case that revenue will not be the impediment to stopping play if we find ourselves wanting to do that. so, yeah, i mean, we could have i gue safest way to do it was to cancel the season altogether, practica wy. th not something the players wanted to do.d we wan give it a try. >> woodruff: on the vaccine,la once it's ave, are the players going to take the vaccine, all of them, >> will the players take it?e. we will it will not be a question that we have to address in the coming months, because we're not we're not anhere near the top of the list, nor are we making any efforts to get to the top of the list. look, our players are members of the community. they've got grandmas and moms and dads, and they appreciate that when it comes to who weot have to t, first and foremost, as much as we love our players and they want to continue to stay to stay healthy

and well, we firmly get it and we will wait our turn. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about the black livematter movement, you played a central role and in working with the players to give them the ability to have a voice, to share their views around racial justice, social justice. and that is we've seen that unfold this year after the tragic death of george floyd. we've also seen conservative politicians come out and criticize the players for what how do you see that? do you see that is racist? what we're hearing from some politicians? how do you view it? >> candidly, judy, i spent veryi le time worrying about what politicians say and let's just get that get that established,er our plagain are members of the community and their members. d ny of them are african- americans their members, obviously, of the african- american community, that the issues that are important to our community are important to our

players. d their concern for thos issues was evidenced by their rt, by the voices that that they that they allowed to be mmard during the course of the . they use their platforms to make sure make it clear what their positions were on these issues. and did all of tt understanding that there would be people, including wpoliticians, who would wld disagree? it did not matter to them. it does not matter to me. we understand that as members of the community, if we think that there's a right or wrong that needs to be redressed, we're going to do it >> woodruff: for 2021? we have different political leadership in the country, a different president. is it do you think, on the part of the players? >> no, i mean, sadly recently as what last weekend, another member of our community waand african-american mal killed by the police. i've been speaking with players nce then. they want to know what they can do collectively, obviously individually, they're doing what

they want to do.he so ty're there. their use of their platforms is not going to change when now it sees it again. so it will be a littlerent because we're not in a bubble. we don't have all the guys together, but their commitment't hahanged. >> woodruff: michelle roberts, the executive director of theas nationaltball players association, thank you so much id we wish you well. we wish you safethis coming season. thank you. >> thank you judy, always good to talk to you. >> woodruff: we're grateful to michelle roberts and, of course, the n.b.a. season gets underway tonight. the holidays are intended to be a te of the holidays are often a time of joy, but they can also be moments of pain for ny.or this year,than a million americans will celebrate with an empty chair from someone who has died from covid. millions more will be isolated, and with that can come depression and anxiety. we spoke with therapists on how to care for yourself during this

difficult time. please, take a moment to check it out. it includes resources for those in need. that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy wdruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> carnegie corporatioof new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement

of intnational peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. pt ning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org [newreport mus]

- hello everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company". this holiday season, we're bringing you some of our favorite interviews from this year, and here's what's coming up: a special on the global reckoning on racism. i speak to kwame kwei-armah, the first black briton to head a major theater company, nity fair's editor-in-chief radhika jones and guest editor ta-nehisi coates about their special issue activism and justice, and to the civil rights campaign of bryan stevenson. he tells our walter isaacson that america n ly move forward if it faces its past. [uplifng music] - [announcer] "amanpour & company" is made possible by the anderson family fund, sue and edgar wachenheim, iii, the cheryl and phillip milstein family, candace king weir,