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 the pandemic

began. now the centers for disease control is requiring travelers from the united kingdom into the u.s. to test negative for the virus before their trips. there are major concerns from doctors and nurses fighting this virus on the front lines each and every day including over the holidays as icus hit limits and some 120,000 patients spend their christmas fighting covid in a hospital bed instead of with their loved ones. of course, the numbers continue to be staggering. hundreds of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of new cases daily and significant increase in cases in more than a dozen states right now. you can see it in the dark red. let's begin with meagan fitzgerald in los angeles, and dr. amish adalja. it's an honor to have you in to give us, not just the global scope, the local scope but medical scope as well here. let's begin with you, mautt bradley. the cdc's decision.

how this virus continues to be a major problem across the globe. >> yeah, that's right. what we're seeing now is really kind of predictable from the u.s. side. a similar thing was done between france, where i am, and great britain just earlier this week. essentially saying you need to have a negative pcr or antigen test from the last 72 hours. this is to block anybody coming in or coming out of britain who might have that new strain, or might have any strain of the virus. now just last week that virus was responsible for 70% -- 60%, excuse me, of the cases in london, britain's capital. this goes to show that even as this virus is spreading so quickly, these new variants are spreading even faster. that's what's so overwhelming and worrying for so many scientists around the world and why the british isles are now more of an island than ever. >> that is concerning. i want to talk to dr. adalja about that.

meagan, you have been following all of this from california. doctors and nurses here at home are in packed environments and they're trying to get as many healthy staff members as they can in to help work these covid wards, these extra covid wards being placed and built in parking lots, et cetera. what are you seeing? >> that's exactly right. to be clear, this is the worst situation los angeles county has seen since the pandemic began. what we're seeing is that health care systems are trying to put out incentives to give nurses incentives to come to work to pick up extra shifts to work on their off days because they're just trying to meet this demand of patients that continue to come. we've talked to doctors in apple valley, for example, just outside of los angeles county describing the hospital situation there as a disaster. operating at over 270% capacity. when we say out of icu beds, stretched to the max, that's

what that situation looks like. you have dozens of patients lining the hallways waiting for care. doctors, nurses, frontline workers doing everything they can to try to provide care to these patients. but they just are struggling with the demand. and they know there's no end in sight. when you look at these numbers, they are jarring. los angeles county averaging more than 13,000 new infections a day. you look at down the line to next week and what they are looking at the the hospital systems which are already stretched thin. they're anticipating another 1400 people a day going into the hospital systems. take a listen to what one nurse has to say. >> we continue to open other ic units to accommodate all of these covid patients. we're currently on our third covid icu in addition to our regular icu which are non-covid patients. so the amount of staff that's required just to care for these patients is at least 15 more icu

nurses per shift than we normally have. >> and they are running out of people to care for these patients. of course, doing everything in their power to try and make it happen. today, of course, christmas. you see los angeles county officials pleading with people not to attend these indoor worship services because the infection rate just continues to climb, and that would certainly be a worst case scenario to see people indoors gathering today. >> doctor, you've been in those hospitals. how is the morale right now as we stretch into month nine of this fight and the worst wave that we have seen so far, especially when it's supposed to be the happiest time of year. >> i think the morale has been something that goes up and down and what i see now amongst my colleagues and of myself is this seems to be like a neverending deluge of patients that doesn't stop because we know transmission is the highest it's been in the community. hospitals at record numbers.

higher than in the spring of this pandemic, and we don't see transmission slowing down. this will be something we continue to do. this prolonged surge until enough of the population is vaccinated enough for the vulnerable population is vaccinated to give our hospitals some breathing room when it comes to capacity. >> i want to ask you about that. dr. fauci updated his numbers. he thought there would need to be a 70% vaccination rate for us to start to turn the corner on this pandemic. now he's updated that to 90%. that includes vaccination or infection rate. where do you stand with these latest numbers? what are your thoughts? >> i think we'll need a tremendous amount of the population to get vaccinated to get cases down. we're hearing about the evolution of new variants in the united kingdom and south africa, which are likely already here in the united states that may transmit more efficiently. that raises the threshold for herd immunity to get a handle on cases. the other point when we get

vulnerable populations vaccinated, people with high risk conditions, they make up the bulk of our hospitalizations and bulk of our deaths. once we get a high number of those individuals vaccinated we'll still have transmission going on but we won't hear about hospitals being overstressed and that will change a little bit of the risk perception of the disease once hospitals are not in trouble the way they are now. >> these new strains you just mentioned and we've been reporting on, the faster moving ones should, even if it's here and like many experts believe that it is already here in the u.s., we just haven't detected it yet, should americans be concerned, and do you think that scientists can keep up with kind of changing the vaccine as needed? >> i don't think we'll need to change the vaccine. when a vaccine induces immunity, it's not just a single antibody. it's a whole bunch of antibodies and t-cells. from all the studies coming out on these new variants, this vaccine seems to be robust against it. i'm not so much worried about that. the important point is that this

strain and any strain is going to be blocked by just a simple common sense measures we've been saying. wearing a mask, avoiding congregated and crowded places, wash your hands a lot. all of that is going to stop all of these strains. we have to do that better than we have before because this strain is more contagious if that's been proven. there's a couple more steps to show this is responsible for the increases in cases in south africa and the uk but we can assume that maybe it is that. we just have to get better at doing what we're doing and wait for the vaccine. >> wait for that vaccine. keep up with testing. do you think the vaccine will have an impact on -- i guess another way of moving forward? it's probably too late for this current wave. we're already in it. >> i think that the vaccine is going to be the ultimate solution to this pandemic but the problem is that it takes a long time to vaccinate enough of the population to get a handle. we're going to see a lot of people get hospitalized, a lot of people die before the general

population has access to this vaccine. it's so important to not let your guard down. we have lights at the end of the tunnel but there's still a long tunnel ahead of us. >> dr. adalja, thanks for breaking it down for us as well as matt bradley and meagan fitzgerald. and ahead -- states scrambling to vaccinate health care workers. why the biden administration might make big changes to how they're giving out the vaccine. first, will president trump sign that covid relief package with benefits for millions of americans at stake? i'll talk to michigan congresswoman debbie dingell about the uncertainty so many people faice, next. >> it's not a silent night. all is not calm for too many, nothing is bright. and for too many, they are not sleeping peacefully.

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the white house is selling the president's holiday vacation down in mar-a-lago as a work trip with wall to wall meetings

and calls. so far it would appear that trump's focus has been really on the golf course and his frustrations with republican lawmakers preparing for four years of a biden presidency. nbc's josh lederman is covering the president's trip from west palm beach. we're all waiting to find out whether the president will sign that covid relief package. >> we sure are. it was a silent night for president trump last night. at least as far as it comes to this covid relief bill. we've not heard a word from the president about what he intends to do with this since that initial video that he tweeted out suggesting that he was not satisfied with the hard-fought compromise struck by republicans and democrats with the cooperation of his own administration and his negotiators, including treasury secretary steve mnuchin. and that has really left a difficult situation for members of congress who are trying to find some pathway out of this. but they're not sure whether the president is really threatening to veto this, whether he's just expressing his displeasure but will ultimately sign the

pressure once he realizes that if he does not, the government is set to shut down after funding runs out at the end of monday. so we wait and see whether the president will say anything additional, but as you point out, the white house is insisting that he has a very packed schedule of meetings and calls while he's here, even though the only thing we saw him do yesterday was play golf. not a whole lot of aides down here for him to be meeting with. he presumably could be on the telephone but we do know, according to a person with knowledge of the situation that rudy giuliani has been in town. he caught a ride on air force one to florida with the president, potentially somebody the president will be meeting with as he spends his days here in florida. >> the other big piece of legislation in limbo right now is the annual defense spending bill that passed congress with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. now do we expect congress to be able to override it, do it again and override the president's veto? >> you know, i think it's a tough question because if every republican votes the same way

they did on this bill when it came up in congress, it would pass with a veto-proof majority setting up the first time in president trump's term that his veto will have been overridden and that defense spending bill would go into law without his signature. but we've already heard from some republicans, particularly in the house who say they are not going to go against the president's veto. if he says this is a no-go, they are not going to try to force his hand there. so it's really a matter of where the math ends up and a critical test that's formed by that about how willing republicans are to buck the president in his final few weeks, particularly as he's been putting them in such a difficult place politically. >> we're already hearing that some republicans, possibly, might change how they vote which could put that in limbo. there's a lot of buzz over both of the presidential pardons that came two days in a row. who might come next? is there a chance rudy giuliani could be in the mix? >> certainly rudy giuliani

could. and we should note, giuliani, as of this point, has not been charged with anything, but he is subject of a federal investigation as nbc news has reported. so the president hypothetically could pardon him in a broadway for anything that's happened up until now. some of the other potential pardons that we know the president has been lobbied on and could potentially pursue in the final days, also include edward snowden and other figures who have come up, including members of his own family who could potentially face some legal jeopardy and the president might seek to want to protect them. >> josh lederman, thank you. we'll come back to you if there's any big news. i think that's the biggest news this holiday is whether or not the president will sign that covid relief bill. we'll be closely monitoring that. thanks, josh. the bipartisan frustration with the president's refusal to sign the covid relief legislation that his white house helped negotiate was on full display christmas eve at the capitol when michigan

congresswoman debbie dingell spoke to reporters after republicans blocked the $2,000 stimulus check effort. >> i have, for months, been talking to ten restaurant owners a day who are desperately trying to survive. i have been talking to people who are scared they're going to be kicked out from their homes during the christmas holidays. and still might be if we don't sign this bill. >> we need more people speaking out about just what's at stake here. congresswoman dingell joins me. merry christmas. thanks for being with us. >> morning. merry christmas. >> thank you. you've voiced what a lot of people are feeling this holiday. can you tell us more about the economic pain in your own district? >> you know, i have been talking to people all year, but most acutely in the last couple of months, people are really scared. if we don't pass this bill if the president doesn't -- it's been passed.

if the president doesn't sign it, unemployment expires this weekend. people are really scared about being evicted from their homes, that they could be homeless. small businesses -- tried to get a restaurant bill included. the republicans wouldn't accept it. we made some tweaks to ppp. this bill wasn't perfect, but we cannot afford not to extend these programs that are giving people a tiny bit of hope. it wasn't enough from my perspective, and i agree with the president that we should have done $2,000 stimulus payment check, but where was he during the negotiations? his administration said he has signed off on that. can't play games with people at the holidays. we can't play games with people's lives at all. but right now, people are scared. >> there is just no time left to go back and forth. there's absolutely no time left. this is the 11th minute of the 11th hour. and when it comes to the other issue, the defense spending bill, congress is going to try

to take that up again monday, but there is reporting now that some of your republican colleagues possibly might flip and oppose the bipartisan bill after they approved of it. how concerned are you that that might end up not being able to overturn the president's veto? >> i really -- i don't know what's going to happen. i do know that some of the republicans have said they'll not vote the same way. it could be a close vote in the house and i really don't know what the republican senators are going to do. right now, i would not like to see the nda not pass, but i think more important everybody in this country, we are in the middle of a pandemic. we cannot shut the government down, period. so not only do we need to get direct covid relief for people who are really scared. and i'm not talking a little scared. i'm talking that they don't know whether they can put food on their table or have a roof over their head. and we cannot. two years ago, the president shut the government down for 35

days. we can't do that. we're in the middle of a pandemic. that's what we've got to worry about and make sure we address on monday. >> we know that with these last 26 days of the president in office, his main focus seems to be on all the pardons he's doling out and there's been recent criticism about those decisions. and then some concern over what looming pardons he could put out there potentially pardoning himself. do you think that would be constitutional? >> i think there are a lot of good lawyers studying it. nothing would surprise me. i think these next 26 days are a very scary time for this country because we don't -- i would look at the president and say to him, mr. president, this is about your legacy. and right now, there are a lot of people that believe in you. they voted for you. please think about what your legacy is going to be and this last month could define you and could define what our democracy is. >> you know, we know that there was no relief aid given to

states and localities in this bill. there's a lot of stuff that's needed in this bill. would you like to see from the biden administration another covid relief bill that gives states more help to recover? >> people have no idea how desperate state and local governments are. since the covid pandemic began, i do a weekly call every monday morning with my mayors, my county officials and my local state legislators. they are desperate. we're talking about firefighters, frontline emergency workers, teachers. how are we going to get the vaccine distributed and make sure that everybody gets vaccinated in the way they need to. i wasn't happy with this bill. i would have had a number of different things in it. i don't like some things that are in it. compromise isn't a dirty word, but joe biden made two things very clear. he told the congress that he cannot wait until january 20th. we have to make a down payment on covid. he's shown that he's going to have a national plan, and when

we return in january, we have to immediately get the work to address things that were not included in this package. how do we get more money to people who need it. how do we look at people even -- there are people that were lab technicians or making a set amount of money that are now on unemployment and they don't even -- they're not eligible for some of the benefits that are in this bill. we really -- my restaurant owners are so desperate. i cannot tell you. i mean, they call me every day, and they're not only worried about whether they'll survive and unfortunately, some of them haven't, but they're workers. how are they going to get by? we have to keep working. we don't have a choice. and i'm going to remind everyone that republican chair of the federal reserve said to us, now is the time you have to invest. and then when people start to work again, they're getting an income, they're paying taxes, we start to see that income coming in to the treasury. this christmas, i said this

yesterday, i'm going to say it again. this country is strong when we're united, and this is a time to remember that we should have compassion, empathy and a lot of kindness for each other. >> and i'll add one more word on to that. action. we need that action. >> and action. i'm with you on that. >> right? there we go. roll up our sleeves, we'll get it done. really quickly, what's your message to any michigan residents who are traveling to see family this very important time as these cases start to go up even higher? >> so i do a facebook blog every morning and every day -- look, i'm telling everybody, i'm staying home and i'm alone today. i'm not alone because i've got zoom and i'm going to connect with family but i'm listening to the scientists. i spent thanksgiving day alone in my kitchen. i'm spending christmas alone, but i'll be talking to people. be safe. wear your mask. keep your physical distance. wash your hands. and please listen to the experts. now is not a time to have large

gatherings, eat inside, et cetera. we want you to be here for next christmas. >> it is such a delight to have you in, congresswoman. you are the leader we need right now. congresswoman debbie dingell, we appreciate it. ahead -- washington laser focused on what happens next with the covid relief deal. in fact, america is, too, but does that mean plans to roll out the vaccine have been pushed into the backburner? we'll take a look at all of that next. research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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count them. 49 presidential cronies, allies and criminals have gotten christmas week pardons from the president. who released an official holiday message and then moments later took to twitter to rage about a, quote, rigged election. this after president trump through a monkey wrench into plans for a covid relief bill. but the one topic barely mentioned from the white house this week, the vaccine distribution. according to a new nbc reporting, that is a problem. the federal government is so hands-off, in fact, there are serious concerns about how the next phase will be rolled out and who pays. joining me to talk all about this, a politics reporter for the daily beast and eugene daniels. welcome in to both of you.

in the last 24 hours across christmas eve day, the president tweeted five times about a rigged election, once praising a vaccine distribution but with no guidance at all. hannah, what concerns are you hearing about how these distractions in washington might be impacting the rollout? >> one of the biggest concerns, i think, that's going on with the distribution rollout is that there's no clear federal strategy. we've heard this for weeks, but as phase two kicks into gear pretty soon, we're looking into different ways that states are kind of conflicting in their rollout strategies and one of the biggest pieces of this puzzle right now is that messagingwise, it's very unclear who is going to be included in this next phased rollout to get the vaccine. so there's the cdc, an advisory panel that mentioned to the cdc they believe that essential workers and individuals over 75 years old should be next to get

the vaccine, but there's confusion among folks starting out to look into this right now about who might even be included in that and how would they prove their status as essential. so one of the main groups of people, of course, in that second phased rollout, essential workers, would be folks like teachers, food workers, postal employees, but again, there's that key question of how would you decide if that person is deemed essential at a state-by-state level when there's no federal strategy necessarily at the moment. >> right. who is putting the rules in place for that. how does it all lay out if some nearly 70% of the u.s. workforce is considered essential in one way or another. eugene, how do you think they'll be able to lay this out fairly? and i guess it would be at the state's feet because we don't have any federal response. >> no, absolutely. this administration has largely left most of the pandemic response to the states since the

very beginning. and now something as vital as where to find all the syringes is having to be hashed out as those two vaccines are being pushed out. states are going to possibly be getting lobbying that's happening. amazon and uber are lobbying state and federal officials to put their workers to the front of the line, right, when there are a lot of teachers that will be going back to school after the holiday. people that work in restaurants and all types of states and what we're going to likely see because there isn't, like you said, any coordinated federal response is several states, massachusetts, michigan, new york, that may not follow the cdc panel's recommendation and basically they have their own list of who is an essential worker, who is to be prioritized for this vaccine. this is something when you talk behind the scenes to republicans, they say, has president trump done something really differently? his rhetoric had been different,

had he been focused on this, on january 20th, he may have been the man who would be sworn in as president once again, but he has not done that. you talked about how he hasn't been focused on the rollout as much. this is a president, when he cares about something, he tweets about it a lot. and like you said, one of those five tweets has been about this vaccine rollout. so we're not seeing a lot of push from the man at the top himself. >> how about the biden administration? it sounds like they have addressed what is going to be needed to be done for a vaccine rollout moving forward. >> yeah, absolutely. when you talk -- go ahead, hanna. >> no. >> either one is good for me. >> here we go. i'll start. the -- when you talk to people on the transition team, the thing they continue to say is they have been laser focused on this. and you have to believe them because since the very beginning of this pandemic, the biden campaign and now the biden transition has been much more focused, has been much more

careful about the way that they interact during the pandemic. one of the first things that he did after he was the winner of the election was that he created his coronavirus task force. he talked about bringing fauci back in. joe biden, obviously. and he's gone and gotten the shot in public. there's a lot of things they're doing behind the scenes to make sure when they take office on january 20th, though there is a lot on their plate and they're probably starting further behind than they would want to and should have to, they'll be ready to handle this. that's something that we'll have to watch and see. >> and hanna, we already heard about the confusion. that was the first step in realizing that there was not a lot of back planning for this. the confusion over pfizer where the government said there's going to be fewer vaccines than originally reported and pfizer said, no, we have them, they just haven't been purchased by the federal government. and now we are hearing issues.

for example, from one of the most prestigious hospitals in new york. tempers flaring after the vaccine rollout. the most exposed health care employees were to be vaccinated but those, including many who spent much of the time working from home were getting vaccinated and reports of people cutting in line. there's reports of tempers flaring. is this something where you have such a specific group that should have been an easy thing to identify and roll out to them? is there concern that this is going to be the preview to what we can expect when the average american gets the vaccine? >> yeah, that's a good question. i think those concerns are natural given everything that we've seen so far. like eugene said, so much of this has to do with the direction at the top. the rhetoric, i think, cannot be understated. when we're talking about things like, as significant as the vaccine rollout at a national

level. the biden transition has that sort of burden and opportunity to take on rhetoricwise where they can put clearer guidelines in place so that some of these fears that you just mentioned, i think if folks start to hear a clear set of rules and a clear set of guidelines that are echoed from the top which americans have not heard thus far, obviously, as we have seen, i think that some of, you know, local officials, their concerns at the state level might be mitigated a little bit as well as individuals. and one of the biggest things that we're going to be looking at moving forward in the next couple of weeks and months is how does the biden transition, taking over from the trump administration, how do they sort of tamper down concerns of hesitancy and of skepticism within the general population of taking this vaccine because i think when it becomes more

widely available and when the distribution lines become clear, i think the next key issue that they'll have to tackle will be skepticism carried over from a lot of the rhetoric we're seeing at the top. >> you bring up a great point. eugene, i want to end with this question. the president still hasn't been vaccinated. any indication he would be? >> not so much. i've talked to people behind the scenes that planning doesn't seem to be a part of the -- a huge part of his thinking. he seems singularly focused on trying to find ways to overturn an election where joe biden won fair and square. and that's -- this is a president who has done that. he understands marketing. obviously his entire life has been about being out front and running pr campaigns for different things. and the fact that he hasn't done this, gotten this vaccine is pretty surprising considering exactly what hanna was saying. >> hanna and eugene, thank you

both for your time. we appreciate it. now let's move on to the case of an unarmed black man killed by a columbus, ohio, officer. his chief now recommending that he be fired from his job while his community calls for justice. nbc's kathy park reports on the latest for us. >> the family of andre hill has nothing to celebrate this holiday. >> reporter: dramatic action out of columbus, ohio, following the police shooting death of 47-year-old andre hill. the city's police chief making his recommendation. >> today, i am announcing action to terminate officer adam coy. >> reporter: columbus officer adam coy, who shot hill, had been placed on paid leave. the body camera footage of the shooting released this week shows the moments leading up to the deadly encounter as coy walks up to an open garage and approaches hill who is seen holding his cell phone while his other hand is out of view. >> i have seen everything i need to see to reach the conclusion that officer coy must be

terminated immediately. >> we've got a medic coming. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the shooting, hill lays on the ground for more than five minutes without anyone rendering aid. police say no weapon was found at the scene. >> what does justice look like for andre and his family? >> justice for andre hill looks a lot like justice for george floyd. justice for andre hill looks a lot like justice for breonna taylor. >> reporter: the local fraternal order of police in a statement said, every citizen, including officers, deserves due process and that accountability is important. the case now getting extra attention from the state with the ohio attorney general named special prosecutor amid growing calls for action. kathy park, nbc news. millions of families are struggling to get enough to eat this christmas. we'll tell you about one group that's trying to help and trying to keep restaurants with their

lights on, too. road's closed. is that the law? little girl is lost. i'm taking her home. how much you want for her? this child is not for sale. you can't have her. and i'm taking her home.

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right now we're following a developing story out of nashville where the police department is investigating an explosion linked to a vehicle in the downtown area. the nashville fire department says windows were broken out in the air. according to the tennessean, the explosion was felt for miles. a bomb squad is on the scene there, but there are no immediate reports of any injuries. we'll be watching this story and bring you the latest as soon as any development comes up. right now, millions of americans are facing a hunger crisis. most basic human need out of reach for so many who have lost work and financial assistance this year. feeding america puts the number at 1 in every 6 americans facing some form of food insecurity by the end of this year. joining me now, nate mook, ceo of world central kitchen that steps in during crises like hurricanes and earthquakes. today it's stepping in to bridge

the covid hunger gap while supporting small businesses and restaurants. that's what i like about what you guys are doing. it's really twofold. can you talk about the magnitude of the need for what world central kitchen is doing and how the organization is trying to fill all of the needs of the world right now. >> absolutely. you know, we've seen this hunger crisis really evolve throughout the pandemic. and especially now as cases are rising, more businesses are closing, more people are out of work, and more families are going hungry. this is the holidays when families should be celebrating. you know, should be buying gifts and presents and instead the days before christmas, they are sitting in line for hours and hours to get food being handed out to them because they really have nothing else to do. this is really something also that is not, unfortunately, get anything better. we're seeing the numbers going up, and we expect it to get worse throughout the wintertime.

so it's really going to take a lot of support from a lot of different actors really stepping in. nonprofits like us. but we also need our federal government to take action as well. the food banks are overwhelmed. you know, world central kitchen, we're operating in dozens of states across the u.s. and really trying our best. but it is a very challenging time for a lot of folks right now. >> so nate, for anybody who is unfamiliar with the work you guys do, explain to people how you help feed people but also help restaurants stay open. >> absolutely. so we saw early on in this pandemic that we sort of had multiple challenges that we were facing. we need to get food to folks who are out of work, to families who could no longer send their kids to school to get food, but we also had a huge crisis around employment in the restaurant industry. lost the most amount of jobs in march and april. many of those jobs haven't come back. over 110,000.

that's 1 in 6 restaurants in the united states have closed right now. so when looking at how to solve this, we thought, why don't we try to tackle those things simultaneously. if we can support the restaurants to produce the meals for hungry families, we can keep those restaurants in business. so world central kitchen pays the restaurants. we see ourselves as a bit of a bridge. we're not there to replace the entirety of the restaurant's business but just to get them through this really challenging time. so they can keep their staff employed and then world central kitchen works to identify where that food needs to go. partnering with local community groups on the ground, cities themselves and just -- we think this is a really smart approach that could be replicated across the country and supported by our federal government as well. >> and some big names joined you to help get the word out. prince harry and meghan markle to help fund four new relief centers.

the dominican and puerto rico. what can you tell us about this new partnership? >> we're really excited about this. we're working with their new foundation, archwell. they are passionate about a lot of these issues around food insecurity both here in the united states and around the world. they've done extensive work around the world. so world central kitchen is an organization that tends to work in a lot of disaster areas after hurricanes, earthquakes. it's been a very busy season for our teams even through the pandemic, you know, all around the u.s. and around the world. and so, you know, they are -- we're sort of looking at how to build long-term sustainability and resiliency in communities. so knowing that hurricanes are getting worse. they're getting stronger. how can we support communities to really support themselves, especially in the aftermath of big storms. >> people like you getting it done. nate mook, thank you. we appreciate your time today. >> thank you so much. first responders, teachers,

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see yourself. welcome back to the mirror. and know you're not alone because this is not just a mirror. it's an unstoppable community. come on jessie one more. it's a race across time zones. come on you two, lets go. a gift for the whole family. so join in now and see your best self in the mirror. 2020 has been a year defined by the pandemic. so before we go, nbc's harry smith has a look back at what we've been through this past year, and a thank you to the essential workers who kept our world turning when everything shut down. >> as many of us have had to hunker down, work from home, we've realized how fortunate we are to be employed, to have a

job. yes, the stress is too much. kids, remote learning, space, exhaustion. stress. we are lucky, yes, privileged. thankful not to be crammed into an office or an elevator or public transportation, though we now know it's pretty darn safe. what, though, of the millions of people who keep our world running? from the cops on the beat to the bus driver down the street, life goes on. when the alarm sounds at the fire house, there is no hesitation. the ambulance arrives, too. of course it does. masked, we enter the grocery store or any store, for that matter, hoping it's not too crowded. fearing exposure, we secury through, grab our items and rush to check out. and there behind the plexi glass is the cashier. the days are long, even with the masks and protocols, she knows,

you know, it's not without risk. the more crowded the store, the higher the anxiety. still, behind the glass, is the cashier, hoping not to get sick. when co-vid hit earlier this year and things shut down, we leaned hard on deliveries. within weeks there were new faces behind the wheel in the ever-growing number of vans in the neighborhood. there was confusion. some missed packages, and late deliveries. preco-vid, those missteps were calamitous. nowadays we know whatever it is, it will get here eventually. maybe. and hats off to the restaurants. ghost kitchens, and the people who labor therein. a warm meal from the outside world to our doorstep is welcome relief. remote learning for many students is not learning. here then to the teacher who is have improvised and performed their way onto our children's video screens and into their imaginations.

brilliant and inspiring. here too also to the in classroom teachers and teacher's aides who have spun yo yo-like through shutdowns and reopening with little re'shurns that the schools are properly ventilated. or that they are, in fact, safe. yet, still they show up. that is commitment. hospitals are overrun. the emotional and physical toll enormous. all those people working to make others well are at risk every day. from mds to nurse's aides to rns, pts, and ents, from administrators focus toad yans. working in a hospital during a pandemic is an act of courage. since early spring, they have spoken with one voice. wear a mask, they plead. unfathomable to us is the response of millions who refuse to do so, heart breaking. just in time as the year ends, vaccine. the technology behind them a

must google. cheers for the volunteers who said i'll try it. thank you. neighbors, friends, relatives close and distant and strangers, we value more these days. what connects us is their kindness, civility. knowing that with cooperation, we will all get through this. >> that was devastatingly beautiful words from harry smith. that wraps up this hour. merry christmas. thanks for being with us. the coverage is picked up next after a short break. (sneeze) skip to cold relief fast. alka-seltzer plus power max gels. with 25% more concentrated power.

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a good christmas morning to you. we begin this morning with a number of developments in the co-vid crisis. starting with the breaking news from late last night. the cdc declaring all travelers from the united kingdom now must test negative before they can fly into the u.s. the new restrictions on air travel which go into effect monday come as concerns grow over a mutated version of the virus that is rapidly spread across the uk and appears to be highly infectious. the number of airlines have