that is seeing the highest positivity rate since the pandemic started. >> so today had come and we must learn to be smarter, live with covid, and ensure we protect everything we can. >> jet blue is prepared to cut nearly 1300 flights between now and january. and the count down is on. a focus on tens of thousands of russian troops along the ukrainian border. we'll start with the omicron variant. antonia hilton is on grenich.

connecticut's covid positivity rates keep shattering records. the state reported the highest positivity rate since the start of the pandemic. what are you seeing there and what is connecticut doing to address the numbers. >> specifically on tuesday we're seeing a positivity rate here and that the governor and the statewide efforts were to get three million at home covid tests to get out here around the state and six million n-95 masks and the hope was to get them out for free starting today. due to supply chain and shipping issues the supplies did not make them here. the governor had to send out a notice to let people know. and they said the planes from the west coast that were supposed to bring the supplies

here late last night were not able to take cough. they're hoping they can launch the effort tomorrow in particular because we're already in a holiday surge and they're only expecting things to become more challenging as people ascend events or hang out with family members tomorrow in is not just about people catching covid and getting sick, but also the potential strain on hospital systems like some of the people behind me here. >> with the first few waves, you know we lost quite a bit of our nursing workforce. now with the omicron, we have more experience, how we're caring for our patients and for each other. they are getting all of the support they need. >> already she told me that they're getting more sick day calls. they're looking at bringing in international nurses, but there

is an effort sis on testing. they want to understand the community, how much risk is there, and they're saying if you're going out tomorrow try to get a test, whether or not it is a site like this one, or get your hands on an at-home covid test. >> all right, antonia, thank you so very much. we know there are still long lines for covid tests. when you couple that with warnings like the ones in the last few hours like potentially massive disruptions with so many people getting sick in the coming weeks, what do you think? why can't we seem to get this right? >> thank you for having me on. you know i'm concerned about what will happen in the next few weeks. people are on holiday vacation now. students returning to school. people returning to their jobs, and we don't have the capacity to address this pandemic that we need to. so you know, at the very minimum

we need to let people know they need to upgrade their masks to n-95 or equivalent because omicron is incredibly contagious. the testing issue is a huge issue. it has been a debacle since the very beginning. and it has not revved up to the degree that we need at this time. so my concern is that we'll still see an exponential increase in cases, and while we're seeing a decoupling, just the sheer volume of cases will lead to an increase in hospitalizations that lead to hospitals being at or other capacity. i think we're going to see our systems breaking and we need, for state, we need some federal guidance around data driven mask policies. we may need to put capacity restriction in place. if people can work from home, if they have nonessential jobs they should be working from home and

we need to address air filtration and ventilation issues because omicron is so contagious. there needs to be guidance. so it does not have to get worse. we can have state and federal policies put into place to prevent the worsening of these cases but we need to do it as soon as possible. >> dr., i want to ask you about what is going on in new york city in particular. 17% were out sick wednesday along with 30% of ems workers. meanwhile the cdc is slashing the isolation day of 10 to 5 after the symptoms go away. >> yes, and we don't really know

about the dynamics of omicron. we don't know how long people stay contagious for. we have seen people with omicron have positive rapid tests six, seven, eight, nine, and ten days out. they don't recommend a negative rapid test after day five. so what i'm concerned about it people returning to work in their essential jobs and still being infectious and infecting their co-workers. i think it is politically motivated. i think it is also motivated by economic interests. and the key is to throw the spread of community trance mission and that will help workers at home and at work from getting sick. >> today about 65 u.s. army, navy, and u.s. medical force personnel were deployed to support hospitals.

brian kemp said on wednesday that they will deploy about 200 troops on monday to support hospitals and testing sites there. and what do hospitals need right no that they're not getting? >> i would say that it is an extra set of hand that's is helpful, but also that we need more health care professionals. some retired early due to burnout. we know that many are out sick, and i don't know if these national guard people will be able to replace the health care professionals that we so desperately need. so we have to keep the hospitals from going into a surge situation. >> thank you for coming on the show, always great to see you. >> thank you, alison.

>> in a little over three hours, cold war type tensions will be center stage when president biden gets on the phone with vladimir putin. the kremlin asked for that call. the main issue, you guessed it, the tens of shows of troops that are raising concerns about a potential invasion. mike memoli is covering the story. moscow bureau chief with the washington post. mike, first to you, the white house made a point of saying that russia wanted this call. they said that both leaders have a lot to talk about. what will they discuss this afternoon? >> what we heard from both the white house and the kremlin in the last 24 hours since they announce'd this skaul that they will be talking about talking. you mentioned the announcement a

few days earier there will be a series of humts. and a broader coalition and security coalition. and what president putin clearly wants to do is is there v a direct conversation they are working on this diplomatic path. what white house officials are also making clear is while they prefer that path, they want to see more of a deescalation from president putin at this point. that call a few weeks ago was aimed at heading off what was a more potential invasion by the ukraine. flow is not the draw down that they were hoping. and what president biden made

clear is the u.s. is still formally standing with it's allies in that threat of severe economic sanctions. now it is hard to see the middle ground, of course, when president putin added to his list of flands. white house officials saying they're prepared to hear those concerns and bring some of their own as well. >> take us behind the scenes at the white house. how are they been reading it and what are they looking at when it comes to best and worse case scenarios here? >> the worst case scenario is a full on invasion. there is an unlikely scenario. they had so much trouble invading the small republic of

that would not be the end of the war. that doesn't mean that they won't do it. once you put an army of 100,000 people on the rise, expecting 175,000 people, you do that because you're intending to use it. what is putin's gamble here? the crisis we have is muching. putin is saying i'm assembling these forces because you're trying to expand nato into yew train, but that was not about to happen. nato doesn't really want ukraine right now, but they're not going to agree to the demand to rule it out. the idea that you can let a neighbor bully a smaller neighbor is different from the

principals that they stand for. the question that mic say social security is there a middle ground that would allow putin to save face and back down without looking like you're compromising the principals of the americans and the europeans that they have had for many years. >> you covered the rise of rupt. he knows how to analyze the situation. he has to see the political pressure points that president biden is dealing with here at home, how does that play into this call? >> this is worrisome here. vladimir putin is three steps ahead. and he is somebody that understanding what pressure points are with the united states and europe. he understands what response he is likely to get if he took this action or that action. and he went through this scenario in his mind. he knows three steps down the road what he thinks biden is likely to do, the likely punishments, the tradeoffs, if there is provocation. we don't know what his game is.

we don't understand what his end result is at this point and that is a real problem for the west. we have france and britain occupied with covid concerns as are we. and president putin is trying to put himself into the center of the calculation again. and he wants to know what he wants to get out of this and what he can can do to get there without a full out war. >> so if he can't move putin off of the border, how big is the a tide for further action here? >> one question bode a few weeks ago is what is the definition of escalation, right? and they said that definition, it was invasion. so sort of an invasion, what is the u.s. willing to do to deter

president putin from holding everyone hostage here. part of what the us what is doing is having some officials engage, but also making a very public show of the conversations the u.s. officials are having with allies. we also saw talk with the poland leaders. other nato allies. one thing he has taken off of the table is that the just will not put boots on the ground in ukraine, but if the u.s. feels there is a concern here they're saying they want to show force with their allies in some of those nato countries.

so there is a question of what is the middle ground here. >> how much does the it play into the response? >> they dded that they're not interested in a lot of foreign engagement, in a lot of troops on the ground. they know that will not be on the table, and they're questioning how far, and president putin is trying to push as far as he can get at a time when the united states is inward focused. we're not interested in the engagements we have had in the last 20 years. i think he is trying to take advantage of that moment. the question is whether or not president biden finds the right

bans. and that is a challenge for any president coming against a full putin, who is a multiple order thinker, and i think that, you know, biden does not want to look weak or escalate in a way to go some place he doesn't want with it to go. >> convicted. ghislaine maxwell found guilty. also, how are local hospitals coping with the surge of patients. spitals coping with of patients. nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like:

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bhislaine max well could spend the rest of her life behind bars. she was found guilty in recruiting girls as young as 14 for epstein to assault. joining me now is cathy park, and barbara mcquaid. so cathy, what is next here? >> well, she is waking up this morning once again in a prison cell. a space she is very familiar with because she has been

custody for the last year and a half. we're waiting for her sentencing, but alison as you mentioned she is looking at decades behind bars based on those five guilty charges against her. she turned 60 on crest mass day. she could be looking at her entire life in prison. her legal team said they're vowing to appeal. they already started the process and they believe that she will be find cased but right now that is a sentencing date that we are waiting for. but there is also another trial pending, possibly, because she is still facing perjury. >> barbara, you said they were not fooled by the greater

culpability in this case, tell us where the defense went wrong here. >> first they tried to use jeffrey epstein as a cape goat, but it doesn't exoneration ghislaine. she helped to groom the victims for abuse. the other mistake is they revictimized the victim. they questioned prior inconsistent statements and i think when you have people sympathetic like this, that can be a area mistake that appears to have backfired. >> why do you think the jury made that decision on that count? count two, in particular? >> it is difficult to know what went on, but i know they request

additional instruction. they asked for a white board and transcriptioned. and that is a victim that admitted that she had not remembers things accurately. so it appears to me that the jury was very me tick lus in it's findings. it made sure that the prosecute met each and every element before they were ready to return a verdict of guilty. this helps make the case stand up on appeal. >> what does this verdict mean for the other key players in jeffrey epstein's circle? >> there is always a possibility that when someone is convicted of a crime that the idea of cooperating becomes more attractive.

it is possible that she could ask to debrief and share everything that she knows and it is possible that she knows about other men that paid for commercial sex with some of these girls. many have been linked to jeffrey, but to date no one else has been charged. perhaps ordinary people are finally gets wise to the ways of abusers. what could that mean. are we turning a corner here? >> i think so, i hope so, i think that is what the verdict could portend. and we did see some of that here with attacks on the victims about their own memories and

complicity. but the jury didn't buy it. they told four victims that told very similar stories. and it would be very difficult and they would exmain the process that creditors are looking for. they are very patiently awaiting. so this has been a teachable moment and we have seen revolution from the public that they're now ready to find perpetrators. >> barbara, a really great read in the daily beast. thank you for being with us. >> new details in the case of two iowa teens charged with murdering their spanic teacher. they ambushed her during her

daily walk and dragged her into the woods. the teens have pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. >>. >> coming up, we just saw our next live shot pop up. they are waiting to pick up rapid at-home covid tests. cases exploding around the capital. could the real numbers be higher? why lots of positive results might not get counted. plus, i will talk to a doctor where every bed is full and nonemergency surgeries are on hold. how they're dealing with the massive surge in covid cases. te massive surge in covid cases

what is going on there and why does the city think they are undercounting the numbers so significantly. >> i want you to look at this line here. there is hundreds of people in line for a rapid test handout at libraries across the city of dc. they get two rapid tests and this is moving much faster than it was earlier this morning, those were the pcr tests. that takes two to three days for results as we know. and dc handed out more than 108,000 of these tests. they received results back. and there is all individually done. people know that you can or should report the results back and that is part of the problem here. it is an education issue but

also a frustration issue. why do they have to stand in these long lines for rapid tests. >> it feels a little third world countryish. they should be doing a better job. >>. >> >> it is a little cold, but no no pain, no gain. >> and starting next week, dc public schools is requiring all of their 90,000 students to produce a nug testify test on tuesday before they're allowed back into the building on thursday. they are calling it the largest data effort since the pandemic began. >> gary, thank you.

>> over in mabd, the covid surge is breaking state records. cases are also spiking in the last few weeks. hospitalizations there are the highest they have been since the start of the pandemic. now they are pushing hospitals to capacity. i'm joined now by the chief medical officer who is outside of the state capital. could you tell us what is it like in your hospital as the covid cases skyrocket. >> good morning. we are at capacity in our hospital in maryland. we have every bed filled. we have prolonged waiting times in our emergency department as a consequence of this. we are at a tipping point in our

hospitals in mrz. several have did cleared a crisis standard of care. >> does your hospital have the resources you need for covid patients and how about noncovid patients? >> we do, we have expanded to every usable abide in our hospital. our nurse-patient ratios are at where they were several months ago. we have been able to hire agent nurses to be able to take care of our patients. we were at a tipping point. things are different. earlier in the pandemic volumes were wour in now we care for noncovid and covid patients. today we have 95 and you saw the

escalation in maryland and that slope has never been steeper. >> unbelievable, we know cases are still going up. how are you and how is your hospital preparing for things to likely get worse? how much more can you possibly imagine? well, you know, our workforce is really at risk here. many people left the workforce in the pandemic. the workforce is fatigued emotionally and physically and compared to earlier in the pandemic we have more people out daily. more people out daily in our hospital from covid and essentially that rests with the workforce because if we don't have superintendent workforce to care for our patients, then we

have to design alternative care models to care for our patients. >> let's talk about that burnout that you brought up. because look, the average person nearly two years in is saying i'm burned out, i'm tired of this life, and we're not going to hospitals every day. we're talking hospital that's are over staffed, how big of a factor is that burnout, that i can't do this any more going to be in the coming weeks and months? it is huge for emotional and physical health. we have wellness programs where we try to care for them and try identify the need for help. >>. >> in your view, let's take it

one small bit at a time, let's start with january, what does the next month look like for you and the folks in your hospital, what are you expecting? >>. >> we're taking this day by day and we're looking at the triggers that might really precipitate a crisis standard of care where we really need to change the way we care for patients in order to take care of our population. so we're looking at emergency department volumes and the number of covid patients, wait times, and we're trying to manage redeploying personnel. we stopped emerging surgeries. because we have no other way to regulate the volumes coming into our hospital. >> doctor, thank you to you, thank you to your staff, hospitals like yours and around the country who quite frankly are saving lives, we oh you a

debt of gratitude, thank you. >> holliday headaches, more flights cabled, more snow and winter storms on the way. where that is headed, straight ahead.

breaking news just in, federal health officials say you should avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status. even fully vaccinated travelers could be at risk and the virus spreads very easily in close quarters on ships. chaos is one of the best words to describe travel this year. and they're telling them that starting today the company will cut nearly 1300 flights, they're anticipating more omicron

infections between flight attendants. . steve patterson has more for us from lax. >> more than 1,000 canceled flights yesterday. more than 1,000 canceled so far today and that number could shoot up. more snow overnight in washington state, this is thought to be one of the worst airplanes for travel, alaska airlines is based there and they're announcing kmer service delays up to 24 hours and they're thinning out their flights by 20%. we heard from united, delta, canceling flights and offering vouchers. we're also hearing from jet blue announcing the cancellation of

1280 flights from now until mid january. they say so many staff members have come down with covid. we expect to hear similar announcements from other airlines as this all continues here. here in los angeles a significant downpour, but this is a ticking time bomb because it is expected to move east soon and it will affect denver to detroit. certainly further complicated the air travel effort as they try to deice the trains, reroute, and reshuffle the flights to get to people to where they need to go. >> let's get into the extreme weather, but we can tell you

what mf might be headed or way. so michelle, what kind of where are you looking at across the u.s.? >> we're looking at everything, we have heavy snow in the west. we have cold in the northern planes. windchills at 50 below zero. and then we're watching severe storms that started yesterday afternoon and into the evening hours, and we're still seeing storms at this hour. so you notice this rain coming other the same areas. floating, lightning, and we could see them reaching severe limits as we go throughout the afternoon and the evening hours. where do you see that yellow there a flood watch until 6:00. we're going to be watching that very closely. friday this will move a little to the north and the east and it

will stretch out. a bigger area for severe weather and it will impact travel in those spots. record warmth. 22 degrees above normal in baton rouge. as we go towards tomorrow this expands to the north. we want to talk about that winter weather because we have a ton of alerts into the west. you can see the radar and in los angeles, steve touched on this, you're watching hour after hour. the good news is that will let up later on tonight. we're still going to see two or three inches of rainfall in there and that could cause some flooding as well. we have a lot of alerts stretched across the west.

so 26 million people impacted and we will continue to see it fall. it is not as bad today. wait until you see tomorrow and the next day. las vegas, los angeles, and we're seeing slowdowns there. we're looking pretty good in terms of weather. by tomorrow we'll see the slow downs expand to atlanta, dallas, minneapolis, salt lake city, denver, las vegas, and phoenix. and saturday this is a big day. we're watching in terms of severe weather all along the east coast we could see slowdowns as well from boston to dc. >> it seems saturday is the day to keep an eye on. coming up a major supreme court decision on abortion

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supreme court will return from the holidays with one of the most important decisions on abortion looming over its term.

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams looks ahead at what might be -- what might be ahead, rather, for the nation's highest court. >> reporter: abortion began dominating this supreme court term even before it officially started. in early september the justices allowed texas to continue enforcing sb-8 while a battle over its constitutionality raged on. the law bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and allows anybody anywhere to sue anyone who violates it. a bitterly divided supreme court ended up ruling that abortion providers can continue fighting the law in court, but made it nearly impossible for a successful court challenge to shut the law down. >> the supreme court said we can't sue judges, we can't sue clerks, can't sue the attorney general. we can't get the lawsuits blocked and the lawsuits are what is making it impossible for the clinics to open because this law allows anybody to sue, anywhere in the world, against the clinics in texas.

>> reporter: a ruling in an even more consequential case is coming in june over mississippi's law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks. a victory for mississippi would undercut five decades of rulings starting with roe v. wade that say states cannot ban abortion before a fetus is viable at around 24 weeks. when that case was argued a majority of the court seemed willing to uphold the law and undercut roe if not overturn it. the court's liberals warned such an outcome would seem like a decision based on politics. >> will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts? >> reporter: the court will also decide the fate of a new york law that bans carrying a handgun in public. residents can get a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but only if they can show some special need beyond the general

desire for self-defense. gun rights advocates say that violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. >> it's contrary to the second amendment. i mean, does your right to self-protection stop when you -- when you leave your home? >> reporter: a majority on the supreme court seem to agree that the new york law is unconstitutional, such a decision would be a boost to second amendment rights. the court this term will also decide whether to loosen restrictions on using public money to pay for religious education. whether boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev is entitled to a new sentencing hearing and whether to take up a challenge to affirmative action in college admissions. the term is unfolding as biden's commission on the supreme court ended its work with no recommendations. it was divided on adding more justices to the current nine-member court though more receptive to the idea of term limits. we may learn whether justice stephen breyer intends to retire at the end of the current term, while democrats still control

the white house and the senate. he's now the court's senior liberal, justice breyer will turn 84 in august and says the timing of his retirement will depend on his health. pete williams, nbc news, at the supreme court. that was nbc's pete williams. coming up, celebrating the new year during this huge jump in coronavirus cases. the scaled-down plans for times square next. the scaled-dowpln ans for times square next. so much new in the new chicken & bacon ranch, but the clock is ticking, so we gotta hurry! there's new rotisserie-style chicken, new peppercorn ranch, new hickory-smoked bacon, new- did you just spike the footlong? sorry, i didn't want the delay of game. save big. order through the app.

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new york city fully vaccinated revelers do plan to gather tomorrow night in times square to ring in 2022. in the last hour organizers did a test run of the big moment, the famous ball drop, of course. manhattan will have a scaled back celebration this year, about 15,000 people will be allowed to attend, that's just a quarter of the crowd that's there in non-pandemic years. moments ago the nypd commissioner talked about the department's plan to keep the celebrations safe even with 21% of his officers out sick today. >> i've got to give it to the people behind me and back at headquarters, the planning that has gone into this event from canceling days off to moving people around to putting people on steady tours to doing what we do best. we are in good shape. we are in good shape not just for here, but for all five corners of new york city to make sure we have enough officers on the street. >> wishing everyone a safe and healthy new year's eve celebration. that does it for me this hour, i will be back with you tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern.

catch me on nbc news now, i'm there weekdays at 3:00 p.m. joe fryer picks up our coverage right now. welcome to msnbc reports, i'm joe fryer on this day before new year's eve as this pandemic continues to shatter records, nearly two years after the first covid case was detected in america. more than 490,000 new cases, almost half a million, were reported in the u.s. yesterday alone, breaking the previous record set just two days earlier. the same time the seven-day average of new cases continues to climb, closing in on 300,000 new cases a day and dr. fauci predicts the peak is still at least several weeks away, but there is some positive news on the pandemic front. the study out of south africa released today shows that johnson & johnson's booster appears to offer a high level of protection against severe disease from