♪ ♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it. ♪ we're running out of room. we're running out of medical care providers. if we don't start making different decisions, we're going to see huge spikes in the number of people who aren't going to make it through this pandemic. >> i lose sleep over this, that we get to a point where, you

know, we lose people because -- and patients, because we can't get to them in time and we can't deliver the care they need. >> it's real. you know, i don't know how else to say it. it's just our reality every time i come into work covid is a major reality for so many families. >> we're all getting tired of this, but if we don't change our ways this is going to be endless. >> going to be endless. no end in sight. that's absolutely true. absolutely true. we once again start the show with sound from the front line of medical workers who are battling this virus all across america. you can hear the exasperation. i mean, it is really frustrating to see so many americans decide to be selfish and not do what it takes to protect all of us. we all have rights. your individual rights do not trump the rights of others to be as virus free as they can possibly be. welcome to friday. it's "meet the press daily" and

i'm chuck todd. we're following the convergence the chaos sewed by the president surrounding the transition as our government faces a surge in covid cases unlike anything it's ever seen. this is already one of the greatest public policy debacles in american history, and it continues. more than 160,000 cases were confirmed yesterday alone. hospitalizations continue to soar. mobile morgues, field hospitals, staff shortages, care rashing, potential school closures all are back in the head license. remember, we have to have in north dakota they need covid positive front line workers to keep working if they're not showing symptoms. that's how bad it is. new york city bill debaz owe is saying parents should make plans for the city schools to close as soon as monday. we'll speak with the major perhaps live in just a moment. this is about the worst possible moment for a national leadership vacuum, but lo and behold here we are. the president has not spoken to the nation in more than a week other than mostly angry tweets

falsely claiming he won the election. it's not like joe biden is holding daily briefings either. not a lot of presidenting going on here. he hasn't been able to fill that leadership vacuum because the team hasn't been briefed by administration including the government's plan to distribute a vaccine. biden's advisers are developing their own covid-19 vaccine distribution strategy, but how much work are we having done that actually in collaboration could get short circuited. but with every metric heading in the wrong direction, what turns this around? what slows the spread? what eases the burden on the u.s. hospital system right now? will we see more in lockdowns? at the local level cases are rising in 48 states. remember, we have 50 of them. 40 of the 48 states have positivity rates above recommended levels. and there's notably less appetite so far from elected officials to try to compel the public to clamp down. even in the states where local officials are taking this virus the most seriously. in illinois, for instance the state order ordered residents to

stay at home in the spring when it had few confirmed cases. the state saw record cases yesterday. chicago has a stay at home advisory. quite the contrast so far. although the state's governor is warning of another stay-at-home order. in new york, we all remember the shutdowns when this virus first hit them. closures everywhere. now with concerns of a backslide into that nightmare, the state has taken a much softer approach so far. also the states that were reluctant to impose restrictions but did are in even big contrast. florida for example during the summer surge they closed bars, took a number of other measures to slow the spread, but now with cases rising, no restrictions whatsoever. in fact, encourage to fill football stadiums by that state's governor. arizona they slowed the summer spread in part by closing a number of businesses, but now as cases are rising, some businesses are at limited capacity but no new restrictions in place, which brings us back to the current split screen in america as the country once again looks to its elected

leaders for help as the virus spreads like wild fire. and as you can say, the blue states that strong action before are taking less action. the red states took some action in the summer are taking no action now and here we are. nbc's ron allen at the staten island ferry terminal with bill de blasio. gabe gutierrez is in chicago. has new coronavirus advisory. peter baker with the new york times and chief white house corespondent for him and msnbc political analyst and our doctor, infectious disease physician senior scholar at the johns hopkins center. let me begin with you, ron. i think the mayor has some news that he may make very soon. so take it away. >> reporter: indeed, chuck. thanks very much. thank you for joining us mayor de blasio. here in staten island, one of the hot zones in new york city. so, today the positivity rate is 2.83% for the city. you've said that parents should be ready for schools to close on

monday. there's a curfew essentially going that will shut down night life, restaurants and bars at 10:00 p.m. how is it that new york has gotten to this precipice, this place that everyone is so concerned about? >> yeah, look, ron, we focus on the data. we focus on the science. and that has took us out of those really, really tough times in march and april and made us one of the safest places in t country for the summer and fall. unfortunately swoo lly we're se rates go up. we have to take additional actions to protect people. some of this fatigue, i know. some is what's happening around the country coming here through travel and we have to take strong steps to fight back this second wave. >> who is getting sick? i think that's the question a lot of people have. it's a very generalized community spread. it's not nursing homes. it's not factories. it's jr. generalized. >> ron, this is the key point. we have a huge test and trace

operation, the biggest and strongest in the country. we're not seeing very specific focal points. we're not seeing super spreader events. it is generalized. that makes a particular challenge. that's why we need some of these bigger measures that hopefully can control things. this testing center in staten island is crucial. this is a place that's seen a sudden surge. last month it was brooklyn and queens. we beat it back with a lot of testing, a lot of community outreach, a lot of mask distribution. we're doing that again now in staten island. and i think we can turn it around. the city has done it before. i think we can do it again. >> reporter: let me ask you about the schools now. that's a big deal. >> yes. >> reporter: this is the biggest school system in the country and one of the few that took the bold step of opening. 1 million kids or so in the schools. but the positivity rate, the test rate, is very low in the schools. >> yes. >> reporter: there's no transmission happening, very little. why close the schools? why not be more surgical and close schools in places where the rates are high? this will cause a huge inconvenience for families that

desperately need their kids in school. >> ron, i'm the guy who wanted those schools open and fought to get those schools open so long as we could do it safely and we have. you're right. the testing shows very few people have tested positive in our schools. that's a great blessing. but, when you see the rest of the city unfortunately experiencing this generalized problem, we've got to act out of an abundance of caution. we need to keep faith with parents and educators and staff. we told them if it went over 3% out of an abundance of caution we would close the school but hopefully only a matter of weeks and bring them back after we have beaten back this problem. >> reporter: i heard you say earlier today what you are really, really concerned about is travel during the holiday season. >> yes. >> reporter: during thanksgiving. what do you say to people who just, you know, it's very human thing, you were the to be with your family. it's a huge time of the year particularly after we have all gone through so much. >> where i'm at personally. i'm not going to see some of the most beloved people in my life. i know they can't come to me.

i can't go to them. this is a year unlike any other. and next year will be better. we have a vaccine now. we have a lot of things now finally breaking in our direction. but this is not the year to travel. the big x factor for new york city and this country right now is the holidays. will people travel or not? we have to ere on the side of safety and health. this is not the time to travel. >> and lastly, just looking ahead, how confident are you that with a new administration in washington that new york, other cities are going to get the help that you've been crying out for for so many months now for first responders, for schools, for all these things that governors and paymayors ha to do and produce everyday? have you had any direct questions with president-elect biden. >> dr. vivek murphy. fantastic choice by the

president-elect. but it's very clear, we're going to see the national strategy to fight covid we've been missing all these months. we're going to see a focus on testing and the focus on getting us the kind of support we need and getting a vaccine that people can believe in. i'm absolutely convinced and i'm convinced the vice president or the president-elect i should say now will achieve the stimulus that will help us get back on our feet. absolutely confident. >> thank you very much. i know you have a lot on your hands. thank you for your time. >> i'll see these folks. >> important day here in new york city. we'll watch the numbers over the weekend and see if the schools can remain open into next week but it's going to be a very close call and of course tonight restaurants, bars, closing at 10:00 p.m. here and across the river in jersey as well. it's a really critical time for this part of the country. chuck? >> ron allen, tremendous work there. live interviewing the mayor of new york city. much appreciated. in fact, let's move from new

york city to chicago. that's where we find gabe gutierrez who also had an opportunity to get some comments from the mayor of that city. and this is slightly different from the first. it was sort of the point i was trying to make here, gabe, on one hand we see many of these mayors and governors who were tough with restrictions the first time, they're seeing the same numbers if not worst and they're all putting a slightly lighter touch on the restriction. walk us through what mayor lori lightfoot has done. >> reporter: yeah, chuck. you're exactly right. here in chicago there's been a lot of pushback from the business community this time around. this is indicative of what these big city mayors are trying to deal with. and the balance they're trying to strike. lori lightfoot announcing this stay at home advisory, notice the word advisory, it is not a stay-at-home order. it is not mandatory but absolutely necessary over the next 30 days or so to limit people going out for

non-essential things. and as well she's trying to limit gatherings to ten people or less. going into the thanksgiving holiday. she spoke out and explained her rational earlier today on msnbc. take a listen. >> we're really urging folks like in the spring to rel restrict their activities outside of their home. we know that one of the biggest challenges we face now, which is different than in the spring, is the spread in private places, in homes, event spaces, people are still having gatherings like weddings, of course, and funerals but also there's a contingent in the city that don't understand that you can't party like it was february. we're the middle of a pandemic. >> reporter: so, chuck, mayor lightfoot is facing strong pushback from restaurant owners, business owners who say they feel unfairly targeted here if the spread is happening more in the community and in terms of private spaces they don't see

why some of these restrictions that also she imposed late last month and apparently hasn't worked in terms of stopping spread here they're pushing back and a lot of controversy over whether these new restrictions will work going forward. chuck, it's something that many cities across the country are dealing with right now. again, mayor lightfoot saying it's a dire situation here. cases are skyrocketing here in chicago. covid deaths have tripled here over the last month, chuck. >> gabe gutierrez on the ground in chicago. gabe, that brings me to dr. adalja. doctor, you heard what i've laid out here. i know you know it better than any of us lay people here, we have a worsening situation around the country and everybody is doing less about it this time than six months ago in the northeast, three months ago in the sun belt. everything seems to be we're doing less. how do we mitigate this?

why do i feel as if we're headed this is just not going to stop until the vaccine is distributed? >> it's going to be very difficult to stop what's going on now. i think many people are probably throwing their hands up thinking that this is something that can't be stopped. we do have some better tools now in november than we did in march. we have case contact data. we have the ability to test not the best ability to test but much better than we had in march. so we can do some targeted types of interventions, looking at what's spreading infections. but one of the things that's happening is we're seeing the epidemiology shift. this is now small gatherings happening in people's houses. even if you make those illegal, even if you have an intervention against them, that's not something that people are going to really comply with or something that can be really enforced to any degree. so, now it's really coming down to personal risk calculations and getting people to take some responsibility for their actions. and it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to stay at home. it means you have to just take those common sense precautions of wearing a mask, trying to

avoid the most crowded and congregated places. washing your hands a lot and decrease the size of your gatherings. all of that will go a long way. with public health we worry about people not being able to comply with what we are recommending or if you use a very heavy hand you're going to get a backlash. we want people to do this voluntarily and i think it can be done voluntarily coupled with testing, tracing and isolating. but it's becoming increasingly challenging because of pandemic fatigue being very real. people are frustrated that we're ten, 11 months into this and we still can't test, trace and isolate the way that south korea and taiwan could do back in january and february. and so i think there's real gaps in how we responded to it. this is the result of it. >> all right. how do we stand up a new testing policy? i mean, this part -- is it even possible to stand up a testing policy that can be effective at this point if you don't have

some pause in activity in this country. >> we are going to have to have people voluntarily choose to get some control on their activity so that they're not spreading this. that will make it easier for a testing strategy to occur. but we have to get more prioritization of tests. we're still having long turn around times. we're still having people waiting in long lines to get tested. we don't have any kind of clear pathway for home testing, which the technology is ready. we just don't have it. we have a president who is still in office who thinks of testing as a bad thing that the more we test the more cases we have. so, i do think any ability to increase testing is going to have some impact. it will be hard when you have a train moving as fast as our covid train is moving, but we have to think about targeted public health interventions. >> yeah. first thing you want joe biden to do about this virus on january 20th? >> first thing i want him to do is restore the cdc back to the driver's seat. take the handcuffs off the cdc, issue guidance da they believe

in that's not been politically meddled with and them v them talk to the american public on a daily basis and coordinating a response that is sorely lacked coordination since at least february. >> dr. adalja, let's see if some of these recommendations are listened to by the public first before we get to january 20th. let me finally conclude with peter baker. peter, it's sort of -- i want you to straddle the fence here. we're in a public policy emergency, and the president is still sort of licking his wounds about an election. he's not confronted it. we do know he just got an update with the vaccine group called operation warp speed. it's the first time we've known that he's gotten any sort of update on tackling the virus beyond rants on his twitter feed here. if the president can't focus on this virus now with the election out of the way, then he's never going to do it.

but we're sort of in suspended animation if he's not going to focus on this virus. >> yeah. i think, chuck, you're right. it was notable that he did have that meeting with the operation warp speed task force as the first thing we've known him to be doing since the election with relation to this spike in the virus. he's not talked about it. obviously hasn't talked much about anything other than his twitter feed and the election aftermath, which he still obviously quite focussed on. and it's interesting it's not just the president it's the vice president. we haven't seen from vice president pence talk publicly about what's going on right now. he's head of the coronavirus task force. he may feel inhibited by the president at this point that we haven't seen as the doctor just said the cdc give daily briefings or any other kind of public messaging from the government telling the public what to think about what's going on right now, what to do about it, what to expect and how to get ready for a winter that could get much worse. and it's a bad time obviously to have this sort of political flux even as the country is heading

into the worst spiral of cases that we've seen, five times what we saw in april in terms of the number of new cases each day. and it's a bad vacuum at the moment. >> so, i'm curious if the president said, as the entire world has to wait for him to collectively absorb and accept this current political situation, i'm curious what you make of two developments that happened today. one, i'm not going to put the quote on the air but peter navarro went on tv on fox business, a friendly audience for him, where he proclaimed they're focussed on dealing with the trump second term and that's how they're acting internally. and he's making this idea that there's some validity that they have some how validity to some of their challenges to these election results. we have yet to see anything that's factually been proven at all. but it's the president's interview with bion york of the

washington examiner is that your understanding he's starting to get more and more comfortable with the fact that he knows he's going to lose so he has to find a way to politically rescue himself from whatever personal humiliation he thinks he's facing? >> yeah. i think he's going through a process and it's a process of grief, right? five stages and all that. he's coming -- lashing out in anger, lashing out in denial, but piece by piece, day by day coming clearly to the understanding that there's nothing that's going to change about this. you know, he told his friend geraldo rivera who tweeted about this a little while ago that he's going to do the right thing and he understands where things are going but wants to wait and see how the state certification goes of these votes. the state certifications will not change the outcome but will provide a certain finality. once the states certify the outcomes you can't at that point pretend they'll be anything other than what they are. that's sort of the moment where a lot of republicans are waiting, a lot of republican

senators and congress people waiting to say, okay, we have clarity and can begin to move on to the next step. >> well, we shall see. we did just get word peter while you and i were talking that the president will be addressing the public first time we'll hear him in more formal remarks rather than twitter feed on 4:00 a.m. eastern time what he has to say and what matters to you. we'll bring you that the information that you need from him. i have a feeling one week from today is when georgia has to be done with its recount and certify that first round of results. i have a feeling that will be the day when a lot more republicans start to accept president-elect biden. peter baker thank you. before then gabe ambiguigutierr allen, amesh adalja. the latest from the biden transition as it prepares to take the covid reigns. hospitals across the country are at a breaking point, cities running out of icu space. talk to the mayor of jackson,

mississippi, another one of these cities who is suddenly nearly out of available, critical care hospital beds. we'll be right back. easier to m. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪ that's why i get up in the morning! i have a secret method for remembering all my hr passwords. my boss doesn't remember approving my time off. let's just... find that email. the old way of doing business slows everyone down. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software.

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the sooner we can get our transition experts into meetings with the folks who are planning the vaccination campaign, the more seamless the transition from a biden presidency to a trump presidency can be. >> welcome back. that was biden's incoming chief of staff ron klain talking last night about the vaccine distribution and the concerns that the lack of coordination with the trump administration right now will leave the biden team very unprepared. kristen welker covering the president-elect from wilmington, delaware. kristen, we're at the end of the first week of joe biden as president-elect. and the only staffing news we have is the chief of staff.

we do have a task force that has been named on the virus. when this week began, were we given the expectation that we would have more than just the lead staffer for the west wing? >> reporter: well, what they've said, chuck, is that they're going to make a number of west wing announcements before thanksgiving, starting with this week. we did anticipate there would be more than one staffer named. of course he did name a top position, his chief of staff, ron klain, a long-time aide and ally and chief of staff when he was vice president. what i'm told, chuck, we'll get the bulk of those names next week about 10 to 12 announcements we can expect or at least positions announced. and so, i think what you're seeing is this is how president-elect biden makes decisions. he mulls over them and that's what's happening right now behind the scenes as he tries to fill out the contours of who is going to be in his west wing. who will be a part of his comes team. i can tell you, chuck, we just

had a briefing with some of his aides and advisers and they put the focus on what you were talking about the fact that biden has not been briefed, the fact that because president trump has not yet conceded the race and gsa ascertained the election results that they are not being given access to critical funds, to intelligence briefings and that it's okay for right now but the concern is starting to mount about what the impact might be, that it might put the biden administration on its heels on day one if they can't start to move forward with some of these critical briefings and covid really being at the center of that, chuck. and now you have the transition team starting to work on what will be -- >> no, kristen. i'm curious, do you have -- has the biden task force, who are they -- if they're developing their own distribution plan, how are they doing that without sort of knowing what warp speed? are they sort of unofficially

working with some of the non-political members of the task force? are they working with the folks at hopkins who we know are working in close coordination. i mean, are they trying to sort of work around the edges when it comes to getting up to speed on the vaccine distribution front? >> reporter: i think that's actually the exact right way to describe it. they're working around the edges. we just asked them about what, if any, contact they had had with the actual warp speed team that's working on the vaccine distribution plan. and they signaled that there wasn't a whole lot, that instead they are working around the edges. the medical experts who have been helping to advise operation warp speed, who have knowledge about this. but they stress that that's really the concern, that without the information of what's already been put in place, there is concern that it could ultimately hurt their ability to distribute the vaccine once that is ready to move forward, chuck. >> kristen welker on the ground

with the president-elect in wilmington, delaware. kristen, thank you. up ahead, the hospital capacity crush as covid-19 surges. i'll talk with the mayor of jackson, mississippi where they have run out of icu beds. don't miss "on assignment" with richard engel. race for the vaccine. catch "on assignment" with rh ard engel race for the vaccine sunday at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. tern right here on msnbc. needles.

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xeljanz. an "unjection™". welcome back. mississippi is just one of the many, many places right now where hospitals and healthcare workers are being pushed to the limits. 774 people are currently hospitalized with covid-19 right now in mississippi. the state's highest total in more than two months. but here is the bigger concern, today may be the state's ability or inability -- today may be the state's last shot at being able to treat the sickest patient. according to the state only 12% of its adult icu beds are available right now. that's in the entire state. and the state's top health official tweeted this warning yesterday, zero icu beds in jackson, mississippi's capital. very few elsewhere. please protect yourself and your family. well, with me now is the mayor of mississippi. mr. mayor, we have visited

before the last time we thought you were in a close to red alert situation. things look bleaker now. paint the picture. and how much of your situation in jackson, sir, has to do with the fact that maybe you're the biggest hospital area for people in more rural parts of the state to come to. >> well, first and foremost, it's a pleasure to speak with you, chuck. and as you have noted, we are stretched beyond our capacity. and it is very concerning. it is beyond concerning to us. in the absence of national leadership and in the -- based on the failure of state leadership, we are not being properly supported, as we need to be. jackson is not only the largest city by a factor of three, the capital of the state of mississippi, it is also the capital of healthcare. and so the decisions that are made from the state level impact us in a unique way. so, we can't simply impose restrictions for ourselves and

see the numbers decrease simply for ourselves because we live amongst interconnected communities. the failure to have a uniform policy that is applied across the state creates an increased burden on the city of jackson and our hospitals. >> it's my understanding and correct me if i'm wrong but i believe the governor has been viewing it almost county by county on mask mandates. there's never been a statewide one, but it's sort of a county by county call and how much of it can be the county's call and how much of it has to get approval from the governor. >> well, i don't know if there's much rhyme or reason to it, to be honest with you, chuck. but there was at one point a statewide mask mandate. but that was rescinded. it was rr rescinded at a time w we had been told by every medical professional we were anticipating a second wave, increase in the covid cases once we embarked on flu season. and so in the city of jackson,

we have never ended our mask mandate. it is still in place. and we base our policies based on science not politics. and so, not only did we see the relinquishment of the mask mandate statewide, but it was at a time where we were told not to do so and we also encourage super spreader events like the state fair that took place in jackson. and that was very disconcerning to us because the state fairgrounds is seated right the middle of jackson, and we don't have direct control over such facilities. and so, based on the measures that we had employed on our own, we saw a decrease of about 11.4% in the infection rate in the city of jackson. and that has since spiked in november. and so, we're working with limited tools in our tool box when we're not receiving all of the support on the national and state level that we need. >> and you've made an interesting point and i'm about

to have the number two leader in the u.s. senate and we're going to talk about the covid relief issue, but you have said you probably would be more likely to do another round of lockdowns but not without financial compensation to the small businesses impacted. and go further here. it sounds like you are trying to balance the economic concern and the medical concern here, and you understand why some people are fighting you if they have -- if they have no help from the federal government. >> absolutely. and i listened to one of your earlier segments as you were speaking to the fact that there seems to be more lax restrictions nationwide, even amongst cities that certainly understand, leadership that certainly understands that we need tougher restrictions. but with -- not having the full gambit of the tools in our shed in order to impose those heavy

restrictions, not having any idea or any option of relief for those businesses that will be shut down, individuals will be without the resources that they need, then it forces our hand. it forces our hand to have a seesaw effect of shutting down certain areas of our economy only to have to reopen it again and shut it down again. and so this is one reason -- this is another reason that underscores the need for consistency and a uniformed policy and practice nationwide and statewide. >> are you getting any sort of -- given what's happening right now, have you seen any sort of change in the governor's belief of doing this piecemeal versus statewide? >> i'm not getting any indication of that. you know, i've gone through various iterations of discussions with the governor. times in which our communication

seems to be consistent and times where it is certainly lacking. and there seems to be very little communication of a plan or strategy whether we agree or disagree. so what we're trying to do is build the solutions for ourselves, understanding that we have limited resources and, you know, limited capacity to achieve that. but we have been standing up additional testing in the city of jackson. we have decided to do convalescence rooms so people can socially distance. we created a hotline for people to call when they were experiencing symptoms. we understood the emotional toil that this pandemic has created on communities. so we stood up a warm line for people to communicate through those issues. we worked along hope community credit union in order to process ppp loan applications for businesses so that we could see more businesses take advantage

of that. and so now we're in need of more resources, both on a financial side and in terms of more hospital beds. >> right. >> mr. mayor, i hope my next guest was listening to everything you were needing there. just a reminder, so many mayors like yourself, regardless of party, caught the middle of what is clearly a politicization of this above your heads. thanks for your time, mr. mayor. up next, the renewed fight over a new covid bill looks like a lot like the last fight and we know how that turned out. you just heard the needs that are out there. is there any chance of progress before inauguration day. the number two in the u.s. senate on the democratic side dick durbin joins us next. dick durbin joins us next. -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan.

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welcome back. there are two deadlines looming in georgia right now when it comes to elections.

the january 5th runoff race for two senate races. but before that happens, georgia has until midnight wednesday to recount audit all of the presidential votes in the presidential race. it started this morning. nbc news correspondent shaquille brucer is inside the gwinnett county election building as they recount those ballots. shaq, i have to say, i think i have thought that this georgia hand recount sort of symbolically is likely the end of the line for the formal republican enabling of president trump here. tell us the status. >> reporter: well, i'll tell you that election officials are going to have a very busy weekend as they're going through all these ballots. and you know, you used that language there, it's an audit. not a recount. this is part of the state's verification process. but when you look at what's happening behind me, chuck, they are recounting votes.

each table is 64 tables in this building. there two team at each table. there are a team of auditors. they go through each ballot. they name what selection there was for president on each ballot and then put it in a pile either president trump or vice president biden or president-elect biden. they then count those piles. and then write down. but what you hear as you listen through what goes on, they have to name who selection -- what the voter selection was on that ballot. they must then count together how many votes each candidate got, put that on the stack and then keep going. i'm going to lower my voice because they're making an announcement for the auditors back there right now. but this is what's going to happen all weekend. here in gwinnett county, more than 400,000 ballots that they're going to have to go through by hand. that painstaking process that you're seeing happening behind me in fulton county, georgia's largest county, they're not starting until tomorrow. they'll be starting tomorrow and going about ten-hour shifts. so this is going to be a long

process that we see. we know the deadline is midnight on november 18th. but the state certification deadline is november 20th. chuck? >> shaq, very quickly, i assume there are observers from both campaigns or both parties. how close are they? and have they been quiet or active? >> reporter: chuck, i'll show you down there. you see a team of observers. sorry. i'll show you right there. you see some observers there. they're being fairly quiet. they're all lined around. as you go around the room, you see observers from both parties, members of the public can come and do this, members of the media can obviously come in and participate. the reason why i'm mumbling to you right now is because one of the rules is they cannot distract what's going on and what's happening with that count. chuck? >> and i don't want you to get in trouble either, especially now. you are also nbc news correspondent and congratulations publicly on that

promotion as well. shaq, thanks very much. and we'll be right back with senate democratic whip dick durbin. ♪ durbin ♪ made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa to help you build a flexible wealth plan. you'll have access to tax-smart investing strategies, and with brokerage accounts online trades are commission free. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both.

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help from the federal government looks less and less likely. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell still insists he's not willing to support a quote dramatically larger covid relief bill being pushed by democrats. but even using the words dramatically larger means he'll move up a little bit. white house speaker nancy pelosi accused republicans of failing to take this pandemic seriously and says she's still got the same leverage and she is not budging at all. with me now is illinois senator dick durbin who's of course a democrat in the senate minority whip on the democratic side. and senator durbin, the mayor of jackson, mississippi made it perfectly clear. he'd do more restrictions but he's not going to do a lockdown without knowing there's a financial backstop. some compensation for small businesses. and you know, i've heard this, the mayor of chicago made it an advisory arguably and not a lockdown. i've heard this from governor murphy of new jersey who said he'd do more but without federal government help on the small business front, you know, he feels trapped on that front.

is there a compromise that can be had here or are we to take both pelosi and mcconnell at their words that nothing's going to happen? >> there is a compromise and basically it takes into consideration the reality of what we face today. i'm here in illinois, and we're at ground zero. our infection rate is skyrocketing. three times what it was just a few weeks ago. people are genuinely concerned. and business owners and restaurateurs are genuinely concerned. we have the restaurant act. it really comes to their rescue, as you would expect. and it's something that democrats and republicans can agree on. but it would be part of a bigger package. we've got to convince senator mcconnell to look beyond the small packages to the reality of what we face. i think there are enough republicans who feel as we do. if they will appeal to him, perhaps he can appeal to the president to help us. >> is it time to just take what you can get right now, knowing that as speaker pelosi said she

doesn't want to budge because she says i have a democratic president coming. okay. but we know how bills work. you've got to get it through the senate too. is it better to get what you can right now than come back on january 20th? >> chuck, i've heard that argument over and over again. if get what you can means we won't provide enough money and food stam tops feed families. if get what you can means we won't have testing so that more and more people can be detected early on and protected, if get what you can means we won't provide money to school districts that are trying to keep their kids safe, for goodness sakes what are we doing? i understand nancy pelosi's frustration. we've got to put together a bill which really meets the moment and at this moment we need something substantial to help america. i hope that everyone who's affected by this will appeal to senator mcconnell and to the president. let's get this done and do it in this lame duck session. >> all right. senator, i understand your frustration and sort of the --

and you taking my phrase get what you can and pushing back like that. but the problem is that this kind of negotiation has gotten zero. and look, it may be your right and they're not playing fair, they're not negotiating fairly. the problem is that's the system we're stuck in. so how do you move it a little? >> so let me suggest the obvious. you put all of the principals in the room around the table, from the white house and from house and senate. to this point the republican leaders in the house and senate, they refuse to sit at that table. put them all at the same table, at the same room and disclose where we stand. what is the $1.8 billion, trillion rather on the republican side? what is the $2.2 trillion on the democratic side? what are the differences? that is how negotiation takes place and has historically. so far senator mcconnell has refused to sit at that table. he's got to come in the room.

he's got to be willing to engage in coming up with a solution to this problem. i think we can find a solution that he'll engage. >> do you need the president-elect to get involved if the president isn't? >> i'm not sure, you know. trying to understand the impact that's going to have on donald trump, to think that joe biden would claim some credit for this at this point in time when we know what the concession situation is when it comes to the election, i'm not sure just it wouldn't complicate it more at this point. i've spoken to joe biden. he wants to get this done. he understands as we do there is an imperative in this country. we are suffering with this pandemic. we need help, and we need it now. and we know we need it in a substantial way. what about that do the republicans not understand? i just can't -- i can't fathom that they go home and don't hear the need to do something. >> their argument, because i've asked them this question, their

argument, senator, is the election sent a different message. and there's been some acknowledgment that perhaps democrats had more leverage before we knew more outcome of the election and they believe that the results, particularly what happened in the house and what may have happened in the senate, puts them in a stronger negotiating position. that's a political take. and i know where you're going to go on the policy needs. but that's the way they view it. how do you cut through that? >> it's cold comfort to the millions of people who are unemployed, to the businesses who need a helping hand, to the people who need testing so that they can avoid infection. to say well, the election was so close, maybe we shouldn't do anything. that's just plain wrong. and it's wrong on both sides of the agenda. we've got to make sure that democrats and republicans respond to this nationally. when the chairman of the federal reserve says to us for goodness sakes i brought interest rates down to zero, do something on the fiscal side, move us forward or we're going to see a recession that gets even worse,

you know, that should be a call to both political parties to put their political agenda aside and reach an agreement now. >> boy, you make a good point on the fed. he's screaming at the government, i let you borrow money at zero percent, go spend it. anyway, senator dick durbin, democrat from illinois. stay safe out there, sir. appreciate it. >> thanks, chuck. thank you. and we'll be back monday with more "meet the press daily." and if it's sunday it is "meet the press" on nbc. among my guests will be the president-elect's chief of staff, ron klain. msnbc's coverage continues with katy tur right after this break. irresistibly smooth chocolate. ♪ to put the world on pause. lindor.

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good afternoon. i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in the east. for months public health professionals warned the fall and winter would be the darkest period yet in this pandemic. andhe