i'm cori coffin at our msnbc headquarters in new york. the promise of vaccines making their way across the country for health care workers and elderly americans is still a small comfort as the pandemic continues to surge. another 185,000 new positive u.s. cases in just the last 24 hours. the two major pressure points are on hospitals with icus hitting their limits as doctors and nurses push themselves to extraordinary levels to provide care and on millions of americans struggling to make ends meet. that last point putting a spotlight on president trump who's still refusing to sign that covid relief package tied to massive annual spending bills sitting on his desk in florida. we begin with nbc's megan fitzgerald in los angeles and dr. dara cass, emergency physician, and a yahoo medical contributor. we appreciate you being in on this christmas morning. megan, let's begin with you. you did have the chance to speak to some of the care workers who

are spending their holiday on the front lines. what are you hearing from them? >> reporter: cori, they're at their breaking point. these doctors and nurses along with so many of these front line workers have just been going nonstop trying to meet the demand as patients just continue to flood the hospitals. so you take nurses, for example, typically there's one nurse for two patients, but right now we're seeing that ratio being expanded. one nurse to three patients or even more. you're hearing doctors describe the situation inside their hospitals as a disaster, as scenes from a movie because there's so many patients coming that doctors are candidly saying we cannot provide the same quality and level of care because we just can't get to everybody. we've talked about how icu capacity across southern california has been at 0% for a while now, so what does that even mean? they're trying to set up icu beds in areas of the hospital that aren't typically for icu patients. they're putting up beds in

parking lots and putting up tents. we've talked about a hospital turning a gift shop into an icu, makeshift icu ward, and then when you take a look at the numbers, though, it really starts to show you just how dire the situation is. los angeles county seeing a seven-day average of more than 13,000 new infections a day. by next week, by new year's eve the projection is that some 1,400 new patients will be going to the hospital. doctors say that this is not sustainable. it's already starting to take its toll, and they know that the dr darkest days are ahead. take a listen to the toll this is taking on these front line workers. >> to have to go into a patient's room with an ipad and show the family their loved ones through an ipad and have them wish them a merry christmas, it's heartbreaking. and more devastating that if, you know, they're doing poorly and not progressing or not

getting better and having to break that news to the family, it's taking such an emotional toll on our nurses, and i think nurses are very strong, very stoic until they're not. >> reporter: and the county, of course, is already seeing shattered records for deaths. on wednesday 145 people died in los angeles county. that was a record until yesterday when 148 people died. these doctors and nurses and front line workers doing everything they can to try and meet the need, but they are just running thin here, cori. >> and dr. cass, you hear those horrific numbers. you hear from those front line workers and i can't help but think you know all too well what that challenge is for your colleagues and friends this holiday. what they're experiencing having to spend christmas, a holiday that typically is mired in joy in a covid world where there is inevitably going to be tragedy. >> yeah, i think that that is absolutely true. look, we're used to the work.

we've been doing this for almost a year. the thing that is really tragic and i think not everybody's understanding it is this isn't just affecting covid patients. there are patients in los angeles and around the country that are calling ambulances for completely unrelated issues that deserve to go to the hospital and can't. they're being told in the hospital there's no room for you. you have to wait and see your doctor or come back another day. and this is just not the way our health care system was built to work, and it's going to get worse and worse if we don't keep this virus under control. yes, the doctors and nurses are having a hard time. it will affect everybody in your family, too, if we don't get this virus under control. >> you think about where we were when we first hit this first wave, and it was already all consuming for our health care system. the current wave we are at is three times the size of that. i can't imagine how our health care system is coping, and how much longer it's going to be able to. are vaccinations at all adding to the morale among doctors, nurse, hospital staff. i know it's a bit of a slow

trickle coming in. >> the vaccination process has been remarkable. we've vaccinated over a million people in the first week, which is unbelievable. when you work in a hospital and you've been doing this for a year, you're ready to get your vaccine now, and so even as we rolled out ten and 20,000 vaccines per institution, it still feels like it's not enough. people are sitting there waiting r the for their turn to get vaccinated. knowing it is congresswomming bt doesn't feel like it's coming fast enough. >> and adding to the confusion the fact that there really aren't been any follow through on the planning with the rollout. we appreciate you dr. cass and meagan this morning. i want to bring in shaquille brewster in chicago. what we're seeing is this trend, and it's not just in chicago. it's around the country, but there's more testing happening

at these cities where there's a lot of travel because people are hoping if they test negative they can go off and see their family, and that's something you've been following for the last couple of days. >> that's right. and we also saw this trend ahead of the thanksgiving holiday where more people went to get tested. there was a rush on testing ahead of the holiday. of course unfortunately we saw that holiday followed by a surge in the virus, and that's what doctors and medical experts are warning of this time around, they're saying don't put too much faith in that negative test because you can test negative in the morning and then still be contagious once you get to dinner time, once you're around the table cwith family and friends. that's why the bottom line they are advising is to avoid those holiday gatherings. keep them as small as possible and do what we've been doing this entire pandemic, wearing the mask, washing your hands and enforcing that social distancing as much as you can. of course, we're also seeing the federal government stepping in. news that the cdc is now requiring a negative coronavirus

test in the past 74 hours from anyone traveling from the united kingdom. we're following and tracking that more contagious strain of the coronavirus. officials doing what they can, putting those new steps in place to ensure that after this holiday we don't see a similar spike to what we did right after thanksgiving. >> and meagan hopping back over to where you are in california, california hitting 2 million cases this week. what are hospitals doing to try to get ready or as much as best as they can for that surge coming up in a couple of weeks? >> it's a good question. they're putting incentives out there are for nurses to come in, a yo as you heard from the nurse there. asking people to come in and help even though they have the day off. you see the creativity in terms of how they're creating space to put more beds in place, setting up icu units in parking lots and in gift shops and in other areas of the hospital to try and

accommodate just the surge of patients that are coming. they're doing everything they can. we talk about how nurses, there's usually one nurse to two patients. they're expanding that. they are being stretched thin. they are trying to give everybody care. doctors are candid about the fact that they just can't give the same quality of care to everyone, cori. >> we have been reporting on the high numbers in california since the pandemic began. some states didn't see that spike right away. others, you know, like new york saw it right away but have been able to kind of get it under control before this winter wave. why are these numbers in california just so high and unable to come down at all? we've seen it throughout the entire pandemic for california. >> so the number don't come down if people don't stop dwaegather it doesn't matter if you gather in a restaurant or your house. what we've seen is people still insist on gathering in small groups and spreading the virus from one person to another.

that's why we ask people to please stay at home. part of the reason we asked for these travel restrictions is we want people to test themselves and then find out if they're positive and stay home. it's not a permission to go if you're negative. it's a reason to stay home if you're positive. we need to stop the spread of this virus or we're not going to vaccinate enough people quick enough to keep our hospitals safe enough for everybody. >> the stories are different in our different states but the message remains the same. thank you all for being with us here this morning. we appreciate all of you. doctors and nurses battle through the virus this holiday, millions of americans' livelihoods hang in the balance as the nation waits to see if president trump will sign that $900 billion covid relief package that has been so desperately needed for months. nbc's josh lederman is covering the president's holiday vacation in west palm beach. it's difficult to talk about the possibility of millions of people being evicted in just days and also in just hours losing their benefits of unemployment while also using the words holiday vacation in

the same couple of sentences. let's start with that covid relief. that is stuck in a holding pattern here. the president's surprising push for more stimulus, and then he said he wasn't going to sign it. where do things stand today? >> well, the bill and the ball are now in the president's court. this covid relief package finished the enrollment process yesterday, and then was being flown literally carried on an airplane to here in south florida where the president is vacationing at his mar-a-lago club. now, we haven't heard from the president about what he intends to do with this since he released that twitter video a few days ago when he railed against the current package. on this christmas holiday, a rare moment of bipartisanship in washington with both democrats and republicans now extremely frustrated with the president and hoping that he will just sign this darn bill and move on averting a government shutdown that's set to come on monday. we heard from roy blunt, a

senator and republican member of republican leadership who said that $2,000 the president wants to plus up those direct checks to will never pass the senate. and then we heard from steny hoyer who had this to say about whether president trump will really veto the bill. >> the president, i want to make it clear, if you listen to the preside president's five-minute whatever one wants to -- whatever adjective one wants to apply to it, he did not say i'm going to veto the bill. he said it was insufficient and wanted more, which is why we responded this morning to try to be consistent with the president's request to accommodate his perspective. >> steny hoyer was also asked whether it had been a mistake to marry the covid relief package with the broader government spending bill that includes those foreign aid provisions that the president apparently is now concerned about. hoyer responded that the only mistake they made was believing treasury secretary steve mnuchin when he told the house that

president trump would indeed sign this bill. >> and josh, it seems that while the white house is trying to project the president is hard at work there in mar-a-lago. he's golfing, and he's also tweeting attacks at members of his own party. >> yeah, that's right. the president is nursing this sense of grievance that the unyielding loyalty from republicans in congress that so far in his presidency he's been able to extract seems to be eroding now that he has lost the election and is moving toward being a one-term president. he is particularly incensed about mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader who has been telling colleagues in the senate not to support any bid when the joint session meets on january 6th to actually oppose the results of that electoral college vote. the president seeming to believe that his popularity, particularly among the republican base, is responsible for why republicans have succeeded, even though i think a lot of republican political professionals might question that given that republicans down

ballot won their races in november even in states that the president did not win. but nonetheless, the president tweeting i saved at least eight r. republican senators including mitch from losing in the last rigged presidential election. now they almost all sit back and watch me fight against a crooked and vicious foe. the radical left democrats. i will never forget. and the first real test of whether the president still has that loyalty from those republicans will likely come on monday when the house is set up to take up that measure trying to override the president's veto of the national defense bill. if the republicans vote exactly the same way they did on this same bill just a couple of weeks ago, it will pass. the president's veto will be overridden for the first time in his presidency. if not, if republicans decide that they are going to change their tune because the president has changed his tune, then we may see that bill not succeed and a lot of questions moving forward about critical funds

that are needed for our military. >> and then one last quick final update on any pardons that we can expect. obviously that's been the big news for two days in a row. anything else expected today or in the coming days? >> well, the white house is certainly leaving open the possibility that president trump will issue more pardons and commutations in the last couple weeks of his administration. most of the big names that we had been watching out for to see whether he would actually pardon he's already done it over the last three or four days. so that list is getting shorter. there are still folks like rudy giuliani who's under federal investigation that the president could pardon as well as the speculation he might try to pardon himself or members of his family. >> we'll leave it there, nbc's josh lederman, thanks for being with us on this christmas morning. we appreciate it. while we wait to see if president trump signs the bill to provide covid aid, millions of americans are desperate for relief. we'll take a look at a florida food bank feeding thousands of

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welcome back. aid for millions of americans hangs in the balance as we wait to see whether president trump will sign the covid relief bill. included in that bill, the unemployment insurance many americans have been using to feed their families in a year when an unconceivable number of people have had to turn to food assistance to get by. nbc's sam brock has been reporting on the rising number of americans experiencing food insecurity since this pandemic began. he joins me now from key biscayne, florida, and sam, welcome in to you. good morning. take us through what you've seen over the course of 2020 and how has the need for food assistance grown? >> reporter: cori, good morning. that is the perfect word to describe this, inconceivable when you see images of food banks. it's jaw dropping.

one in four americans right now are not sure where their next meal is going to come from and they are relying upon food assistance. what i've seen personally at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning in some cases cars that are out there the night before with their engines turned off sometimes in temperatures that are for florida pretty cold, 40 or 50 degrees in the morning because they don't want to waste gas, standing there, it's true in miami, florida, san antonio, texas, los angeles, california, as community groups across the country right now are doing whatever they can to try and stem this crisis. on christmas week there's a crush of cars in san antonio waiting for groceries. >> i was like thank goodness, i have food until i get paid on the third. >> it's a scene eerily reminiscent of the spring, though the need has strengthened since. >> they were so excited to get this food, they got emotional. they break down in tears. >> the lone star state is not alone in demand or tears feeding south florida now helps 200,000

families a week put food on the table including debbie gugliata and her three kids. >> it's not a position you ever want to be in. it's hard to ask people for help. i really don't want to, but i have no choice at this point. >> reporter: some of these cars have been out here since 3:00 in the morning, and there's about 500 of them just in this field. it's not just because it's a holiday week either, this is normal. >> reporter: coast to coast, a crisis deepens. feeding america estimates food insecurity this year at about 50 million people. that's kwift of tequivalent of population of texas and florida combined. grass roots help is pouring in. in cities like los angeles, community fridges are popping up where volunteers gather extra food from restaurants, bakeries and neighbors. >> it's amazing. if you stop by, you drop off some food, and you come back two hours later, a lot of the fridges, it's empty again. >> these fridges are kept in

moems, sma homes, small businesses. some even on the street, with those unable to contribute food brinki bringing other items. >> maybe you have access to something or you know someone who does and you can bring something. >> reporter: in florida, jolene does just that, pick up food for her five kids and drop off blankets. >> everybody has to help everyone. >> that's the only way we're going to get through this. >> yes. >> reporter: cure of warmth in a painful pandemic. sam brock, nbc news, west palm beach. and the generosity that we're seeing right now from people who are already struggling themselves is one of the most hardening things you can imagine. still, government aid here is critical. that covid relief package contains some $25 billion for food assistance, hundreds of millions for emergency use. should that not come to fruition, the results would be catastrophic. back to you. >> the biden administration has said there needs to be a more coordinated federal response in response to food insecurity.

sam brock for us in florida, thanks, sam. many americans aren't just struggling to put food on the table, but also to keep a roof over their heads. the cdc introduced an evictions ban earlier this year. that aims to stop the spread of the virus by keeping millions of americans in their homes. the ban is one of many programs set to expire next month when will the round of covid funds runs out. nbc's jo ling kent has more. >> derrick and brenda durham have made some tough choices. >> we had to choose a roof over our head or transportation. >> derrick was a quality control inspector for mercedes benz making 15.50 an hour until he was furloughed in march. the couple lives in south carolina with their daughter, relying on $216 a week in unemployment. they've fallen $6,500 behind in rent. >> we're going to be out on the street. that's what's going to end up happening. we're going to end up being out on the street. >> reporter: until now the family has been protected by the moratorium on pandemic-related

evictions that was set to expire right after the holidays. congress extended it by another month. for many americans that may not be enough. nearly 5 million believe they're likely to be evicted over the next two months. tri county family ministries provides families with food, clothing and help with rent in south carolina, one of the state's with the highest eviction rates. >> >> in the past when people would come to us for assistance with their rent, normally they would be 300, 400 behind. today we had a young lady come in, single mom of three. she is $4,500 behind on rent, and there aren't enough resources in our community at this point to really make a difference for her family, and it's a tragedy because that's happening over and over. >> reporter: a devastating cycle in this unforgiving pandemic. >> everybody is trying to keep a roof over their head. everybody is trying to keep food on their tables. critics say the one-month extension is a band-aid on a much bigger problem hitting

communities of color especially hard as the pandemic rages well past january, many families are on the brink with their backs up against a wall. >> jo ling kent reporting for us. ahead, new rules for air travelers coming from the uk as the country deals with a new faster spreading strain of the virus. plus, we'll check in with an er doctor with how health care workers are coping, many of them getting sick and dying themselves.

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a look now at the coronavirus pandemic and the facts at this hour. starting monday all travelers from the uk will be required to test negative for the coronavirus within 72 hours of arrival to the u.s. top infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci now says around 90% of the population may need to be vaccinated or infected with the virus to achieve the level of immunity needed to bring the pandemic to an end. this as the number of cases reported in the u.s. since the start of the pandemic reaches more than 18.7 million. the death toll on this christmas day now stands at 330,000 lives

lost. let's bring in emergency room physician dr. rob davidson, he is also the executive director of the committee to protect medicare. welcome in. i saw your tweet this morning talking about every single one of those lives lost is a person. it's hard to understand the numbers. the numbers are daunting, but every single one is a person, and you have been working these overnight shifts in the er, so you're seeing it directly there in michigan. what's the situation right now? >> yeah, we do have to remember it is a person, each one of those numbers, and that's what i think we need to be talking about as physicians, as health care workers talk about these patients that we're seeing. listen, right now we had a significant spike post-thanksgiving. our in-patient wards are still very full, at critical levels in some places. in the emergency department fortunately we're experiencing not a lull but sort of a slow in the increase the numbers of cases. so we're just kind of catching

our breath, unfortunately preparing for an inevitable post-christmas spike in the next two weeks. so we're ready for that. >> and dr. davidson, there was also a concerning piece of reporting this week that came out. so many health care workers have sadly died from the virus in trying to help others live. the full toll, though, is actually unclear. that is according to an analysis by "the guardian" and khn. they put the number around 3,000 lives. why isn't there a clearer picture on the impact of health care workers? why isn't something like this being tracked? >> well, i think, as you know, patients individuals private medical records are their private business, and if they and their family choose to release this, then that can get out to the public. i think it's difficult to know exactly when a health care workers dies or when they're sick in the hospital because, you know, frankly, the hospital, their employer doesn't have any right to release that. but i do know that this has had a disproportionate impact on the folks that, frankly, i work

with. a lot of my co-workers go out sick. fortunately we haven't lost any but a number of have gotten quite ill. each of us will be there for our patients, and we have taken on this risk. it will be very nice in a few weeks' time to know that we have an administration that's there with us that's going to help us fight this instead of frankly making it more difficult. >> and what else is coming under the radar or going under the radar when it comes to health care workers dealing with every single day that maybe the average person doesn't know. >> i think just that there is actual stress involved. it's a different kind of stress when we know that every person we see could be harboring the virus at 40%, we know can transmit it when they're asymptomatic. i'm putting on my n95 and face shield in every single patient room whether they come in with an extremity trauma or covid, we know they can be infecting. just like when people are at the grocery store, you can avoid people, stand six feet away. we really can't do that when

we're taking care of patients. that constant stress is there, and it does take its toll over time. >> one psychologist said that some of these medical workers will come out of this with ptsd similar to having served in wartime. the vaccine rollout is also going slower than expected with the u.s., so far confirming a million vaccinations. the goal and the hope was 20 million by the end of the year. you're actually scheduled to get the vaccine this weekend. are you seeing signs of a slower rollout there, or what are you experiencing? >> i work in a small rural hospital, so we don't have the very deep freeze freezers needed for the pfizer vaccines. so we waited for the moderna. we got the first shots in arms a couple of days ago. going to continue that starting on sunday through this week, and so yeah, we're all very anxiously awaiting, i think, you know, significant numbers of health care workers in our facilities want the shot. we're ready to go. we want to take pictures. we want to share with our patients, our families, that we think it's safe. we think it's essential, so anything is too slow right now

for us. i think we're ramping up. we're getting there, and i think we will get to where we need to be in due time. >> those are poignant words, anything at this point is too slow. we cannot move fast enough obviously while doing so safely and following the science, and we appreciate you, dr. rob davidson being in with us this morning. >> thank you. >> we'll be closely following these next steps for you, so good luck. >> thanks a lot. have a good morning. millions of americans are just hours away from being cut off from crucial unemployment benefits. how a massive covid relief bill would help and whether president trump would sign it in time next. it in time next 25% of your mouth.

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signature, along with a host of other protections that expire when the clock strikes midnight on new year's eve. in a capitol hill style game of chicken, house speaker nancy pelosi announced on monday lawmakers will vote on a stand-alone bill to add $2,000 in direct payments. that was a move president trump all but demanded and one many democrats relish. joining me now political reporter daniel lippman and anne gearan, a white house reporter for "the washington post." thank you both for being in here this morning. welcome in. anne, i want to begin with you. starting with you, of course "washington post" had such a moving article saying it's been inundated with phone calls and messages from people desperate for this bill to be passed. a 31-year-old father of two who was hospitalized in march for coronavirus still suffers complications. he lost his i.t. job and says, quote, it feels like everybody is playing politics with people's lives. that $600 check wasn't much, but at least it would have been

dispursed judi disbursed in time. and a single mother said if i were not a strong woman, if i didn't have faith in god, i probably would have jumped off a bridge. that is how bad it seems some days. do i get gas or food? what do i do? that's what my days are like. anne, who do they blame, or are they beyond caring who's at fault? they just need action at this point? >> well, cori, my colleagues who wrote that piece have been getting these calls and emails and messages for some time, and it is heartbreaking. i think to answer your question directly, most americans who are reaching out to "the washington post" are blaming just about everybody in washington, and their complaint really has one bottom line, which is we are real people. we may be talking about numbers, $900 billion bill and 14 million americans who lose their check, these people are saying i'm one of them. i'm a human being, and these are the choices, the real life

choices that i'm having to make as a result, and they just want someone to listen. so i'm really glad that we've pulled that story together, a human way to talk about those numbers, which can seem pretty impersonal. >> it is really difficult to encapsulate the human tostory i all of this. it was a very moving piece. republicans they're in a tough spot here. president trump who was very late to the negotiations, he says he hears struggling workers. democrats say they hear them, too, they're ready to approve the president's $2,000 ask. between now and monday, what conversations are going to be happening for republicans? >> i think republicans, they are tired of spending so much government money and so even with an entreaty from president trump, they just don't care. they think that the $600 is enough for these workers. this is a fundamental divide between the two political parties where, you know, one is

more kind of pull yourself up by your boot straps, libertarian philosophy. with exception people like josh hawley is all about direct payments. he's more of a populist, you know, for people, and so republicans are in a tough spot because they're going to have to go against, you know, president trump. but i think a lot of them are just hoping he approves this bill. he didn't directly threaten to veto it. he just said he was unhappy with it. he has signed bills before where he was not very happy with the whole process. >> i think a lot of republicans are hoping that he'll see what impact could be if he does veto it. the post report that had house minority leader kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell were blind sided by the president's sudden demand for that triple increase to americans. of course we here on the network follow the inside baseball, but to the general public, how is this showdown being perceived. and then a step further being the white house reporter there

for "the washington post," how do you think it will impact republicans moving forward? >> well, the first one first, i think this shows the degree to which president trump really wasn't engaged in the nitty-gritty of making this package come together. he ended up objecting to things that his own negotiators have either put forward or agreed to, and so, you know, for everyday, you know, regular americans trying to make sense of this, i think one easy way to do it is the president wasn't paying a lot of attention. this thing came together, and when he found out what was in it, he blew his stack and said, no, i don't want to do this, that, and the other thing. everyone including republicans threw up their hands in exasperation because they thought they had it pulled together, and they don't want to go, you know, start picking to the bones of the bill and pulling out the parts that the president doesn't want. at the very least that would force, you know, another

showdown over a government shutdown, which really nobody wants. so going forward for republicans, you know, they only have less than 30 days left that they have to deal with this where they're caught between the president's sometimes capricious demands and their own need and desire to keep the government running to answer to their own constituents to make things work without angering him. so i mean, republicans are probably counting the down the days until inauguration days as much as some democrats are at this point. >> yeah, 26 days left to be exact. now, daniel, that's about as lame duck as you can get here. i don't want to say all because there are still some republicans that as we have heard are not wanting to bow to the president's pressure, but then there are some that are still kind of listening to this lame duck president or kowtowing. moving forward, you know, i feel like republicans are going to have to negotiate that very

carefully and kind of decide which line they're going to land on, even after trump is not president. >> you're totally right, and so, you know, he and his political aids are talking about primary republicans in 2022, and he threatened to primary or at least support a primary challenge to john thune, a top senate republican leader, and so while he won't be president anymore starting january 20th, he will have the bully pulpit of his twitter feed. he might start a tv network, so he's not going to go away, and he's not going to go quietly into the night. so this is something that republicans will worry about, especially the ones who are up for re-election in 2022, the people who are retiring or up in 2024, they don't have to worry. >> it does seem like it's all about that perception, whether or not a republican feels that they need that support from even a non-president donald trump

moving forward to keep their own power. daniel lippman and anne gearan for us this morning. we appreciate both of you helping us break that down. thank you. it is unclear how the showdown over that covid relief bill will impact the georgia senate race now just 12 days away. democrats jon ossoff and raphael warnock have shattered fund-raising records in the past two months. each of them hauling in more than $100 million. according to advertising analytics, $293 million has already been spent on radio and tv ads for the two candidates whose win is paramount to democratic control of the senate, but will it pay payoff? nbc news priscilla thompson following the money. >> reporter: flipping on the tv to watch a holiday classic, watching gift wrapping tutorials on youtube, even playing a game on your phone. >> and by the way, i love puppies. >> if you're in georgia, it's impossible to ignore the barrage of political ads. >> i know you're tired of the commercials, and i know you're tired of the mail pieces, and i know you're tired of the text

messages, but every time you get one, i want you to remember there's someone in another state counting on you. >> with two senate seats up for grabs and control of the high chamber hanging in the balance, campaigns and outside groups are on track to spend more than $460 million on radio and tv ads with one of those races expected to be the most expensive senate race in history, but experts say ads are typically forgotten in about a week, so the return on investment may not be as big as you think. >> the effects of television advertising having an advantage over your opponent, those effects are quite small. >> reporter: yet, the ads. >> did you know kelly loeffler was ranked the most conservative senator in america? >> reporter: keep coming. >> it's like an arms race, you add a missile, i add a missile. so you show an ad, and i show an ad to catch up. you definitely don't want to think because the effects are small, i'm not going to do it.

they're small but these elections are being decided very narrowly. >> reporter: in an election that could be decided by just a few thousand votes or less, it's important to reach everyone and tv ads remain one of the best ways to do that. >> there are lots of people out there for whom politics is a distant part of their day, and exposure to political advertising on television can have effects. >> reporter: every georgian over the age of 35 has already seen more than 320 senate runoff ads on tv. that's based on an nbc news analysis of data from ad tracking firm ad impact. with facebook and google now allowing political ads back on their platforms, too, voters could soon see even more, but ads on social media can sometimes backfire. >> television masks advertising, it's exposing people by accident, and people seem to understand that. on these social media platforms, campaigns say we need to show this ad to these types of

people. when campaigns get that targeting wrong, they think i'm a dog lover, but i'm really a horse lover i am irritated by that, and i blame the candidate or the campaign for not understanding me. >> reporter: right now democrats are spending more than their opponents on ads. however when you factor in gop sup super pacs and outside groups who are also buying ads, respirat republicans are spending more. >> there are lot of other factors in elections that are having bigger effects than the effects of advertising, and spending money can't overcome those things all the time. >> reporter: nine of the ten most expensive senate races including georgia happened in 2020. of the eight races that have been decided, in only two did the candidate who spent the most actually win. so in this season of giving, why not spend all that money on

people, for example hiring more field organizers instead of ads. >> you need that television advertising and those mass media moments to help you frame the contest. you can go out and you can and doors and make phone calls and drop leaflets. you can't really do the mobilization part until you have successfully framed the election and convinced voters that they want to vote for you. >> priscilla thompson following the money for us. thanks. still ahead -- how families and health care workers are make something christmas magic for kids who really need it. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started.

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>> we're just lucky he's alive and here to share this christmas with us. ♪ >> reporter: cincinnati children's hospital is his home for the holiday. >> i thought it would be a really depressing time. we've had a really great time. >> reporter: activities once done in groups are now more personal. children's hospitals across the country are going out of their way to make this a special season for kids who not only can't be home but also can't be with family because of the pandemic. in orlando, the s.w.a.t. team is putting on shows. in los angeles, professional athletes are making virtual visits. >> off the top of your head, anything you might want? >> ask him for a heart. >> reporter: in houston, a drive-through toy drop off. >> thank you. >> reporter: gifts for patients and their siblings. in westchester county, new york, holiday goodnight lights. police and paramedics putting on

a light show, waving to patients watching from their windows. and the kids are waving right back. >> why is it so important to do this? >> we want to support them along their medical treatment and their medical journey here with us but also emotionally. >> reporter: 8-year-old kelly coffey had open heart surgery at texas children's hospital earlier this month. her parents, grateful for the staff and holiday cheer. >> it brings a tear to my eye just because they truly care and that's such a huge part of recovery. >> reporter: holiday joy for children who need it the most. >> i want to wish you a merry christmas! >> reporter: so do we. rehema ellis, nbc news. >> a very merry christmas. we will be back with much more msnbc's christmas day coverage after a short break. in our next hour, congresswoman debbie dingell of michigan. stay with us. (soft chimes) - [announcer] forget about vacuuming for up to a month.

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thank you for staying with us. and merry christmas. i'm correy coffin at msnbc headquarters in new york. the nation watches and wonders if president trump will sign that covid package tied to massive spending bills that includes a $600 stimulus check for millions of families in financial need. with the tsa reporting security screenings in the millions, travelers this holiday are going in at higher rates than any other time since