wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we are continuing to follow breaking news out of philadelphia. nbc affiliate wcau reporting 13 people have been killed in a fire. we'll bring you the very latest. also happening right now, the unprecedented surge of new covid infections continues to wreak havoc on the nation's health care system and caused disruptions in nearly all facets of american life, with a week of record-setting case counts. in chicago, families woke up

energy to news that schools are closed today for hundreds of thousands of students after a clash between the teacher's union and the school district in the midst of a spike in cases. and over 600 los angeles police officers and firefighters called in sick this week, leading to longer response times to medical emergencies. california congressman raul ruiz will join us to discuss how the latest surge is affecting his district. meanwhile, right now, in washington, the senate rules committee is holding a hearing with the u.s. capitol police chief to review security measures just one day before the anniversary of the insurrection. >> and we begin this hour with the coronavirus pandemic and the cdc trying to clear up the confusion with its new isolation guidelines. the cdc now says that someone who has tested positive and is

asymptomatic does not need to remain isolated or get another test before returning to normal everyday activities. the agency has added that someone who has access to a test and wants one should go get them. the cdc also says that people who have recovered from the virus and have isolated for five days can get a rapid test if they choose, but do not have to. joining me now is sam brock in miami. nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez is in new york. live from chicago, nbc news correspondent, mara barrett. also with us is dr. kavita patel, a physician and fellow at the brookings institution. she served as a white house policy director under president obama. she is also an msnbc medical contributor. dr. patel, what should the public know from the cdc's latest isolation guidance? >> jose, i'm going to try to make it simple. if you read the guidance, it can seem more confusing. the bottom line is, if you are

sick, you should try to isolate for ten days, unless you can have kind of confirmation that you have no -- if you can get a rapid test and it's negative, that's great. that can help. or if you can really kind of say, i never had any symptoms, this was just asymptomatic, which a lot of americans do, then you can stop at day five from isolating, which means you don't have to restrict your movements, but you need to wear a good mask, jose. this is where it gets tricky, which is why i'm trying to tell patients, look, if you don't feel good, stay home. if you never had any symptoms, you can stop at day five, but please wear a mask. that's really what the cdc is saying. what was new yesterday was introducing the concept of a rapid test, that if you can get a rapid test on day five and it's positive, continue to isolate until day ten. if it's negative on day five, you can leave isolation, but still wear a mask. so not much of a huge change, other than possibly creating more confusion. >> and dr. patel, you want to

talk about creating confusion, that seems to be the mantra these days on these messages that we're getting from the government. so dr. patel, it's always conditioned on if you can get a test. the fact is, it's almost impossible to get a test. and so with that reality, is there something that -- go ahead. just clear up as much as it as you can. it still is such a mess. >> yeah, jose. the most common scenario for most americans is that they felt like they got a cold. if you're vaccinated and boosted, the most likely scenario is that you might feel sick, you might have had a close contact that's positive, and if you try to get a test, either buy one or get a pcr appointment, it's likely that you cannot get one. so what we're recommending is that you should assume you have covid, isolate yourself while you're trying to get a test to confirm whether you have covid, if you might have the flu, jose, we're seeing a lot of that, or you might have allergies. but until you can do that, isolate. and if your symptoms resolve or

if you find a test and it's negative, at day five, you can end that isolation. and i think here's maybe what's even more important, jose. let me just evaluate it to a higher level. we should start focusing on making sure that our friends or ourselves have gotten our boosters, because they are making a huge difference. we're seeing data that shows that boosted vaccinated adults are doing the best compared to everyone and that vaccinations matter, but the boosters really matter. and the second most important thing is making sure that you have a decent mask. that's also turning out with omicron to make a very big difference. and then if you feel sick, stay home. see if you can get a test, if not, assume you have it, try to restrict your moments. and on day five, you may be able to get a test, you can decide, leave isolation or continue isolation. that's the -- i'm just giving you brutal, practical advice for what you want to do. if you've got children, you'll likely be in the same situation, because it's hard to get a test if you're a kid, as well.

>> dr. patel, thank you. it is so important to just be clear. and you are so clear. i can't thank you enough for that clarity. mara, you're in chicago, where school is closed today, not because of snow, because of a fight >> exactly, jose. and although it is a frigid, wintry day, snowing here in chicago, like we're very familiar with, another matter that we've become familiar with is this clash between the teacher's union and chicago public schools. a vote overnight by the teacher's union made chicago public schools cancel classes today. the teacher's voted to -- with 72 to 73% majority to vote to go teaching remotely and the chicago public schools didn't approve of that. in response, they canceled classes, learning, athletic events here in chicago, across the entire district today. those school buildings do remain open for admin and staff who do want to report and for any students who might need the services like meals they get at

school. but the chicago mayor saying that any teacher who does not show up in person today will not be paid. this is the latest chapter in the story of contention that we've seen between these two public entities. the mayor and superintendent of schools pointing to data showing that students are safer in schools. i want you to hear some of the frustration that we heard from the mayor yesterday as the teachers were making this vote, talking about how harmful it is for both children and their parents, when they go to remote learning. >> we can't forget about how disruptive that remote process is to individual parents, who have to work, who can't afford the luxury of staying home and being with their kids. not because they don't love their kids, not because they don't want the best for their kids, but they need to provide a living for their families. and that means going to work. >> the teacher's union said they also agreed that education is

best in the classroom, but adamant that they don't believe that the classroom is safe roup. that cps isn't providing enough safety measures for students and teachers to stay safe. and right now, chicago seeing the highest positivity rate at 24% that it's ever seen during this entire pandemic. and then when we look at the vaccination rate of students, of children 5 to 11 years old, the vaccination rate is only at 24% as well. so teachers are concerned about the safety of their students and parents are wrapped up in the drama of all of this, as well. the school district saying that they're going to release a plan later this afternoon to continue remote learning. the teacher's union saying that they're going to keep pushing on this until new safety measures are introduced or the covid rates decrease here in chicago. >> and mara, meanwhile, parents are struck with having to wake up with news of whether the school will be open or not. thanks so much. sam, meanwhile, two-thirds of u.s. states have set new records for covid cases for seven straight days. florida, no exception. tell us what you're seeing where

you are. you're at jackson memorial hospital. >> reporter: not only is florida no exception, it's at the top of that list of just smashing records right now. to give you a sense of the acceleration of records that we've seen in florida, between december 7th and 20th, between the 21st of december and january 3rd, 550,000. that was over a two-week time frame, back to back. that's now incredibly cases have gone up. at the same time, hospitalizations have not surged to that same extent. during the height of delta, you see the 669% increase, that's for infections. hospitalizations at the height of delta for florida were at about 17,000. there are about 7,000 now. so less than half. you mentioned jackson memorial. they have about 470 covid patients, but jose, half of them came in for something other than covid and then they tested

positive. the problem right now is not necessarily capacity or beds, it's staffing and it's a major problem. the florida hospital association president talking to us about what she describes as a deepening extent of this crisis. here's what she said. >> it really tracks for where the population density is throughout the state, but what i would say is, every hospital is struggling with a staffing shortage like they've never experienced. it was bad before the pandemic, made worse by the pandemic and now because of staff being out due to covid is just a gasoline can on the fire. >> reporter: and here is the other new development this week. both the governor of the state of florida, ron desantis, and the surgeon general here saying that asymptomatic people should not be tested for covid-19. the surgeon general, jose, said that if you're not symptomatic and you're positive, you're not

a real case. this flies in the face of years of cdc guidance that says that people who are asymptomatic can pass the virus along to other folks who can then get sick or die. jose? >> sam, thanks. gabe, meanwhile, you were able to tour a pcr testing area in new york city. gabe, why the huge lines for testing and what did you learn? >> reporter: hi, there, jose. good morning. we'll get to the pcr center in just a moment, but first i want to point out what's going on behind me. this is a line for rapid testing here in manhattan. as you can see behind me, there is still a line, but, jose, it is noticeably much shorter than it was just a few weeks ago right before a holiday, the demand huge right before christmas. so this line is noticeably shorter. but yesterday, i visited a more accurate pcr testing lab, just outside of new york city.

this is northwell health's core lab. it services 19 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient centers around this area. and jose, they are right now dealing with about 25,000 tests a day. this is pretty remarkable. about a third of them are coming back positive. virtually all of them are omicron. and the typical turnaround time for one of these tests at that particular lab is about 48 hours. much smaller labs, though, are taking much longer than that. and i asked the lab's executive director what he would tell people who are frustrated that two years into this pandemic, we still don't have a better handle on this whole testing system. >> yeah, i think it's taken a while for government to get on its footing and to have a coherent response to this. i think we're more on the right track now than we were before, but we're still catching up to this. >> reporter: and so, jose, certainly, there's a lot of frustration from the people standing in line behind me.

yesterday, of course, the president urged americans that if they're looking for the nearest testing center to just google it. certainly, a lot of americans might be frustrated that there aren't -- that tests aren't more widely available. but jose, during that rare look inside that testing center that we saw yesterday, again, that's a much larger testing center, so they have better access to those agents that chemicals need to process these tests. they're able to do it somewhat more quickly, but other smaller labs are dealing with a lot of other issues, and it's taking four, five, six days in some cases for those pcr tests to return. one more thing, jose. the lab we spoke to yesterday told us that about half of the cases that are coming back positive are actually coming from people who are asymptomatic. >> gabe, thanks. so, doctor, yesterday, i went on an online search of local pharmacies across my city as well as the big pharmacies and

groups online. you know how many fast tests, antigen tests i was able to find. cero. cero. so what's going on? >> yeah, i'm not smiling because it's funny, i just feel like you're repeating a conversation that i'm having with my own family. every day, they're like, how come i can't get a texas? they're in texas, california, different places. across the country -- basically, we weren't prepared for this, and basically, i do think, i've seen and witnessed some price gouging. i've seen some market outlets putting a price -- by the way, jose, this is not unusual. we've got pharmacies that tend to be clustered in higher net worth neighborhoods. so those will be the rapid tests where you can send the most. you can mark up the price a little bit, there's really no price control out there, as you know. and they get bought up quickly. i've seen people buying ten tests, that there are no limits, and you have people who i work with who can't even find one test, your experience. what we're seeing is exactly

kind of the theme of the last several years of the pandemic. we're not prepared for this. having said that, i mean, this is a situation now where omicron and the intersection of the holidays, you can say it caught us by surprise. i won't say that, that sounds like an excuse. but the intersection created such a mass demand that we could not meet and did not have the supply. and frankly, we never had really a stockpile of these tests, because we didn't think that we would have such a need. remember, abbott, one of the large manufacturers actually destroyed tests because they were sitting on shelves with a short expiration date, so they had no choice but to get rid of them. this was before the delta surge. so we now need to -- even though omicron should be behind us, hopefully in the next month or so, jose, we have to be prepared for the next surge. it won't be this bad, but we shouldn't feel like this. and i want to just again emphasize, we have common sense. a lot of what gabe and sam have talked about are asymptomatic spread, but most people know if they've been in contact with somebody, try to restrict your movements, just for the

short-term, so that we can figure out if you're sick or not, and that might take several days, because as the country is watching this sweep through, so the availability will get better as the country watches it sweep through, but we don't want you to feel like it's too little, too late. >> the availability gets better just when the wave gets lessened. there's no logic to it. but there is a wonderful gratitude i have to you, dr. patel, for being so clear and clearing things up for us. sam brock and gabe gutierrez, thank you both for being with me as well this morning. we're keeping an eye on that hearing where capitol police chief is testifying. and the health of our democracy one year after the insurrection. and later, covid cases exploding throughout the country as well as in california. we'll talk to california congressman and emergency room doctor raul ruiz an what's being

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failures and deficiencies with operational planning, intelligence, staffing, training, and equipment. i'm pleased to report that we have addressed a significant portion of the many recommendations issued to the department. in fact, of the more than 100 recommendations issued by the inspector general, we have implemented and are addressing over 90 of them. >> congress is expected to commemorate the anniversary tomorrow with speaker nancy pelosi holding special events, even while the house is out of session. and as former president trump cancels his plans for a rally tomorrow, the white house committee investigating january 6th reveals that it wants to speak with fox news host sean hannity about texts he sent to white house officials around the time of the riot. since that day, polling shows the country remains divided on issues surrounding the insurrection and the 2020 election. nbc's steve kornacki joins me now to break down just how divided this country is.

steve, great seeing you this morning. >> you, too, jose. yet divided is the word. let's go through some of the numbers we're getting this week. this is from a "usa today" poll asking folks, how do you think about what happened january 6th of last year. you see the majority say they view it as a protest that was trying to overturn an election. still, nearly 30% say it was a protest that was aimed at preventing a fraudulent election. these numbers don't come that close to a 100. there are a number of folks who say they're unsure, undecided. but when you look inside that number, you see that partisan divide. here it is, it's nearly 90% of them who say they think this was trying to overturn an election, what happened january 6th. meanwhile, it's actually a majority, 56% of republicans who say the opposite, that these were folks who were trying to prevent a fraudulent election. you can see the way independents come down there, too. and it's even more stark when you ask this question here. what do you going forward? this house committee investigation, how do you think

about it? the majority, 53% say that an investigation is important to the future of our democracy. more than 40% say it's a waste of time. and check this out. here's the partisan divide. it's 88% of democrats saying that it's important for the future, and it's nearly 80% of republicans saying the exact opposite. so that's the division. the one area i thought this was really interesting, jose. the one area where there is convergence between all sides is when you ask this question. how worried are you about the future of america's democracy? and overwhelmingly, people say they are worried. and look, this cuts completely across party lines. democrats, republicans, independents, more than 80% of all of them say they are worried about the future of america's democracy. obviously, where this breaks down is, why they are worried about it, what they are worried about when it comes to democracy, but there is that widespread concern about american democracy. people talking past each other when it comes to what they're concerned about.

>> talking past each other. steve kornacki, thanks so much. great seeing you. >> you got it. with me now to continue our conversation, nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent, garrett haake and frank figliuzzi, former assistant director of counterintelligence at the fbi and an msnbc national security analyst. thank you for being with me. garrett, what are some of the things that are expected to be listened from this capitol hearing today with the capitol police chief? >> reporter: well, the chief wants to talk through some of the changes that the department has already made to improve security on and around the capitol. things like how officers are trained, how they are deployed in those civil disturbance units. how their intelligence gatherings are done and how it's distributed out to officers. these are the big changes that have been made. the single biggest outstanding problem are staffing levels for the capitol police. the chief told me they would like to hire another 400 officers. you can't just bring people in off the street to be federal law enforcement agencies.

that's a time-consuming process and it's the number one item on his to-do list. >> the police chief is telling lawmakers that his agency has made progress in addressing some of these security issues exposed by the 6th of january, but has enough been done to address those issues? garrett saying that there's a need for 400 officers. has enough been done for these issues? >> the short answer is "no," it's not happening fast enough. you can't wave a want and get all of these resources in the pipeline. new officers have to go through an academy, it's lengthy. you want to get the right people, not the wrong people. but when i look at that review by retired general honore, on what needs to happen to secure the capitol, there's some things still not in place. in fact, what i'm seeing coming out of the reporting so far is that only about 30% of the recommended measures are already in place. you can't have officers working incredible amounts of overtime and still be sharp and still

have morale. you can't have some of the very same people in place in your intel unit that were in place for january 6th and think things are going to be differently. but most significantly, the quick reaction force, that qrf you see referenced in general honore's review to protect not only the capitol, but to provide an immediate tactical response to iconic targets inside the beltway, the supreme court, the doj, the national archives. i don't see any evidence that that's yet in place. and until i do, i'm going to remain concerned about physical security. >> why would that be? i mean, clearly, you can't just flip a switch, frank, and say, all right, 400 officers. you're in when you weren't there yesterday. but you're saying, only 30% of the ideas have been implemented. that means 70% have not been. why would that be? >> i think we're seeing even funding issues come up with regard to the willingness of the house and the senate to give the

capitol police what they want. if you look at it like a 9/11 event, you needed a strategic change in the fbi. it was literally like turning a ship while at sea. and you're moving from what was a great investigative agency to a predictive intelligence agency. the same thing needs to happen for the capitol police, who essentially were physical security and now they need to become a part of the intelligence community. they need to understand how they fit into the greater capitol region and nationally and internationally with intelligence agencies. that takes time, it takes leadership. it's not there yet. >> and frank, attorney general merrick garland will speak to justice department employees this afternoon about the 6th -- january 6th investigation. what does he need to say to them and to everybody? >> we're all going to be watching and parsing every single word. so i want to level set expectations first. we know we want a doj that's

fair, that's not like a doj that we had under the trump administration that just spun everything. don't expect major announcements. here are the key words and phrases to look for. if you hear garland today say things like, we are going to pursue those responsible for the attack, as opposed to those who participated in the attack, that's a big deal. if you hear garland say or make reference historically to major investigations that took a long time, but eventual got to the top of organizers. so, for example, it would be huge if we saw a reference to watergate or some other major organization, that would be extremely significant. he would be telling us quietly, i'm comparing this to an investigation that had very high-level people involved. and if you hear him say something like, the rules apply to everyone, regardless of your title or position, that tells

me, he is investigating the root causes of -- and organizers of january 6th. >> some key words to look out for, frank figliuzzi and garrett haake, thank you very much for being with me today. by the way, tomorrow, join msnbc for insurrection in america, democracy in peril. special coverage beginning tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern, 1:00 p.m. pacific. we're following breaking news from philadelphia this morning, where police sources tell nbc station wcau that at least 13 people were killed early this morning when a fire tore through a row home that had been converted to apartments. the philadelphia fire department is expected to hold a news conference shortly. with me now is nbc news correspondent, anne thompson. anne, good morning. what do we know about what happened in philadelphia this morning? >> good morning, jose. the philadelphia fire department says that this fire happened just after 6:30 a.m.

and when they got there, they found the second story of this three-story row house engulfed in flames and it took them some 50 minutes to put out the fire. as you reported, our affiliate in philadelphia says its sources say that 13 people were killed in this fire. two people are in critically condition. now, this fire happened in the fairmount neighborhood of philadelphia. that's close to the philadelphia art museum. we don't know what the cause is. you can see there that there are fire trucks on the scene on north 23rd street, on the street where this fire took place. but it appears that this fire happened in a three-story row house, started on the second floor, at least that was the heart of this fire. and at this hour, we are waiting official confirmation that 13 people died and two were critically injured. jose? >> what a tragedy.

anne thompson, thank you so much. 13 people have lost their lives right there. what a tragedy. coming up, california congressman and er dr. raul ruiz joins us with a look at how covid is affecting his district and the things that he and others are doing to keep us safe. congressman, it's good to see you. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports.

33 past the hour. turning now to some of the major headlines out west. investigators in california announced that a tree falling on a power line is responsible for the massive dixie wildfire back in july. the dixie wildfire was the second largest wildfire in the state''s history, burning more than 1 million acres and destroying more than 1,300 structures. joining me now, jacob ward. what more are we learning about that investigation? >> reporter: good morning, jose. that's right. that dixie fire, which burned for more than three months across five counties, i mean, you remember just now enormous and devastating it was. it was the fire that would not go out. turns out two have been triggered by a power line

belonging to pacific gas and electric, our local municipal gas and electricity company. that's according to cal fire investigators. the official state wildfire fighting entity here. they have found that that's the case. now, you'll remember that pg&e back in july announced that it thought that that was, in fact, the case, and has now said that, in fact, there are more than 8 million trees within striking distance of a pg&e power line. so unfortunately, we're probably looking at the good likelihood that this could happen again. that is why pg&e says it is now burying about 10,000 miles worth of power line. that's its plan, to try to stem the tide here, as we face the possibility of another dry and very devastating wildfire season, jose. >> and the recent uptick in covid cases in los angeles is impacting response time by first responders. >> yeah, we're starting to see this enormous metro area affected by sickouts when it comes to covid. the omicron variant has caused

more than 2 hurricane firefighters and more than 400 police officers to call in sick. that's according to the numbers released yesterday. and while that does not fundamentally change the city's readiness, it does incrementally increase response times. that's why l.a. county officials are asking the public not to call 911 when they have mild symptoms for fear that this incredible number of people who are calling in sick, you know, may create further problems down the road, jose. >> jacob ward, always a pleasure to see you. thank you for being with me. as we approach the two-year anniversary of covid-19 being declared a global pandemic, more and more families continue to face the brunt of its costs, especially brown and black communities. alvero and sylvia fernandez from california were high school sweethearts and had been married for years and days before christmas, they died just hours apart. their relatives say that they

were both unvaccinated. it was great to see you this morning. it seems as though our community, the latino community has been disproportionately impacted throughout the pandemic. what are you seeing and hearing from folks in your community? how have they been impacted? >> it's the same pattern everywhere in our country, where hispanics have had the highest risks of getting infected, because they make up most of the disproerkt proportionately represented. the farm workers, the meat packers, and they're also more likely to spread it with their family, because they live in tighter corners in their homes. and they oftentimes live in areas that have underserved health care systems, where they have less doctors and the inability to afford health care.

so all of that is a recipe for them to get sick. they also suffer from unemployment or reduced salaries, especially latinos who have carried the brunt of the economic impact for having to stay home, take care of their kids, and also decrease in salaries. so that's where you see a lot of individuas and latinos, especially in my district, too, applying for financial assistance, now that they've suffered so much. >> and yet, you know, so many people either wouldn't qualify for assistance or are fearful of reaching out and seeing if some way they can get help. congressman, i know it's been one of your passion points in life to actually give access to communities that are oftentimes underserved, not only assistance, but also medical assistance and even the opportunity through education to

become more engrained in our society. what are some of the difficulties that we have as a country in giving access to people who oftentimes don't -- aren't listened to? >> thank you, jose. and the reason why i have such a live passion is because i grew up in a trailer park with farm worker parents and my life mission was to become a doctor, so i can come home and serve and address this mission head-on. and i carry that mission now as a congressman. and what i realize is that our community are hungry to get the health care that they need. oftentimes resources are spent in the more affluent areas, or areas that have more political clout. and the resources that do exist sometimes are not in the language that the community can understand. and so one of the ways to address this inequality and disparity is to take the care to the people. in other words, one of the things we've done here is we've organized with grassroots

organization to do health education fares for testing programs and also vaccination programs, where we go to the site of employment, we go to the low-income housing, we go to the schools and to the neighborhoods and we knock -- literally, knock on doors to inform them that we have the vaccines and come and get protected. in fact, i myself have gone out to fields to make sure that people -- the farm workers now in this stage get their boosters after i've got and vaccinated them for their first two or one, depending on which vaccine, and now i'm going out and actually vaccinating them with the booster. >> congressman, count on me. i would love to accompany you in some of those moments. i really would. it would be an honor to see how you are carrying out your mission in life. a new report from the university of california los angeles found that nearly a quarter, 25% of fast food workers in los angeles county got covid-19 in the last

18 months and less than half were notified by their employers that they had been exposed. what more can be done to protect frontline workers? >> well, i think that first of all, the employers have a responsibility, as soon as they know that an employee was infected to work with the public health system, to inform the other workers that work with them and to provide them the resources and the capacity that their employees need to quarantine and according to the cnbc guidance. we also have other innovative programs like in washington, d.c. and you can opt into an app and your actual phone senses where you've been around other phones. so once an individual has tested positive, they anonymously are connected into the public health system. their phone then goes back and

looks at all the other phones that were around them for the amount of time necessary to be at risk. i've received those alerts on my texts that i have been exposed and i have quarantined and got tested. so that really helped. so we can think out of the box and use technology to help us get informed as to your risk and what to do if you've been exposed to somebody else who has tested positive. >> congressman, real quick, do you ever sit back and think about those days, as that little raul ruiz kid growing up in that trail park and how far and what dreams can really come true because of this country? do you ever sit back and think about that kid? >> i thank god every day to have put a path in front of me that could serve other people. you know, jose, i've seen a lot of pain and suffering in my life. and i've seen a lot of needless pain and suffering because people don't have the opportunities or the resources

to get health care. in fact, i have family members who have suffered tremendous pain simply because they couldn't afford seeing a doctor. so that is what has really inspired me and the resilience of the people that i serve. but i do -- every once in a while, i think back, when i was growing up in a trailer park or on the streets of coachella and i'm still at heart that kid from coachella that wants to do good and help other people and fight the good fight to make sure that people have a voice, they can get health care, they can get an education, and have an equal playing feel to fight for social justice to make sure they can take care of their parents and to help parents give their children opportunities, like my family worked hard to give me opportunities in our great country. >> congressman, dr. raul ruiz, thank you for being with me this morning. it's good to see you. still ahead, what democratic senator joe manchin is now saying about changing the rules to give voting rights through. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." through.

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45 past the hour. now to capitol hill where senate democrats may have hit a roadblock in the efforts to push voting rights legislation through the senate. west virginia senator joe manchin says while he wants to do something on voting rights, he does not support creating a special filibuster carveout to pass voting rights. this comes as nbc news has learned a republican dark money group is launching a $1 million ad campaign in west virginia to pressure manchin to keep the filibuster rules in tact. with me now to talk about this, ana palmer, founder of punch bowl news and an msnbc contributor. ana, it's great seeing you. while manchin threw cold water on efforts to create this filibuster exception for voting rights, he did lay out so the filibuster reforms that he's willing to support. >> absolutely. you know, he has basically been saying he doesn't want to change the filibuster, but he is conceding to his colleagues some

modest changes, at best, in terms of going to that 60-vote threshold to three fifths of the chamber having to vote for some rules and limiting the ability of the minority to filibuster on a procedural motion. and so kind of allow the debate. will this change the way the senate does business? no, but it is certainly a concession that manchin is making to his fellow democrats to say, we do need to have some changes to the filibuster here. here are some things that i think could actually be done. >> interesting, senator schumer has promised that there will be a vote on changing the senate rules in the next two weeks. do democrats have a plan to tackle voting rights if efforts fail? >> right. they are basically scheduling a vote for january 17th at this point. that's what senator schumer has said. that is likely to fail, because no republicans are supportive of democrats' efforts here. and so that kind of moves us into this filibuster debate that we were just talking about.

again, manchin has said that he doesn't want to go nuclear on this, so he still wants 67 of his colleagues to support any changes to the filibuster and republican are unlike to do that. at this point, it does not seem that this kind of deadline that schumer has set is actually going to be successful on this very critical issue. >> meanwhile, annan, you know what we haven't been hearing a lot of? it seems as though there is silence on immigration. what's going on with immigration? >> absolutely. it's really one of those issues that was key to whether or not it was going to be able to be part of the build back better act. of course, the senate parliamentarian decided it was not germane to that bill, so took several different attempts to include immigration as part of that. and for those that are really hoping something is going to be done in the short-term, the prospects are not very good at this point. the democrats really haven't been able to get together with republicans on even some of the more kind of bipartisan issues

over the years like dreamers. so right now, it doesn't appear as if there's going to be much of an effort to get something done before the midterm election. >> ana, thank you so very much for being with me. i want to go to flchld right now. let's listen in on a press conference, officials in philadelphia are updating on the situation of the deadly fire in that city. 13 people have lost their lives. >> -- recovery effort inside, via the fire marshal and atf. and that number sits right now at 13. we also had eight people self-evacuate. this dwelling was a duplex. the first floor had -- the first floor was the rear of the second floor and the second floor had the front of the second floor

and the third floor. i don't have the words for how we're a community and as a department. we also transported the philadelphia fire department ems transported two other occupants, burn to children's hospital. obviously a child. and then the other to temple university hospital. so as of right now, the fire marshall along with the atf like i mentioned before are in the process of doing a thorough investigation of this terrible event. >> do you have evidence of smoke

detecters in that building or fire safety equipment? >> there were four smoke detecters in that building, and none of them operated. >> reporter: none of them operated at all? can you confirm this was a pha philadelphia owned home? >> absolutely it was. >> reporter: are you aware of any inspections? >> there was an inspection done by the fafl ya housing authority in 2019. they installed four smoke detecters. there was another inspection in 2020. when they inspected they installed two smoke detecters. >> reporter: in 2020 there were six working smoke detecters? >> according to pha, yes. >> reporter: how many children, how many children? >> remember the number is dynamic right now. as of what we know, seven children.

>> reporter: how many -- are you aware, and have you got a number of how many people were living in these two units? >> so and this number is preliminary as well. the first floor we're getting reports that eight people lived in the first floor unit. and this number is very dynamic. the second, and when i say first floor unit, i mean first and half of second. the second and third floor unit that number was 18. >> reporter: so 18 people have been living on the second and third floor. is 18 over the number allowed? >> i can't answer that question. that's a license and inspection question on occupancy. but that is a tremendous amount of people to be living in a duplex. >> reporter: did the smoke deterkt battery powered or hard

wired? >> they were battery-operated, and they were ten-year lithium batteries in these smoke detecters. they weren't hard wired. >> reporter: any indication of where the fire started? >> too early. that's information we're gathering right now. >> reporter: can you talk about any of the difficulties of getting people out of this home? egress windows? why was it so difficult to get people out? >> it wasn't difficult to get people out. they got people out very quickly. the two they were transported to those local hospitals were immediately transported and taken to the hospital by our members. so once they -- when they got to them, they were able to remove them. >> reporter: there are unconfirmed reports online or on social media there's problems getting through dispatch that may have slowed the response.

do you know of anything like that? >> no. >> reporter: why do you think the loss of life was so dramatic, so quick? you get here and you find them. what's going on? >> there was heavy fire, and what would be for them the kitchen area, the front of the second floor. and then it was an open stairwell to the third floor. so the only thing that was slowing that fire down from moving was nothing slowing that fire down from moving. that fire was moving. >> reporter: it's feeding on contents. it's feeding on -- >> it's feeding on oxygen and fire. >> reporter: do you consider the space as a procedure to look at this or how do you label this right now? >> it's under investigation from the fire marshall's office right now. it's not necessarily considered suspicious, but we have our hands on deck because of the magnitude of this fire.

>> reporter: mayor, can we hear the -- what's your thought right now, especially being a dad with kids? >> well, i know when i was growing up, my father was on a job where there was a loss of life, especially of children, he would basically lock himself in his bedroom for a couple days and my mother would say don't go near the door because he's grieving. so i think that all of our firefighters, police officers, first responders all have -- many have children, and look at these children and these folks the way they look at their own families. and are absorbing this and trying to deal with it. >> reporter: mayor, do you know the age range of the children? >> not yet. >> reporter: mayor, this is public housing. >> yeah. >> reporter: how does this happen? >> the city doesn't run pha. the other thing is you talk about the number of people in the house. sometimes it's better for people to be indoors than on the

street. you know the circumstances of each and every family, and maybe they were relatives or people that needed to be sheltered. obviously the tragedy happened, and we all mourn for it, but we can't make judgment on the number of people living in a house, because sometimes people just need to be indoors. >> reporter: obviously there's a problem with the smoke detecters. >> our people will figure that out and make recommendations and issue a report. >> reporter: chief, do you know how many exits there were of that house besides the front door? any other way to get out? >> other than the front door and the rear entrance, because of the odd configuration of the house, all i know of is two exits. >> reporter: you said there were smoke detector inspections in 2019 and 2021. why none in 2021? >> i wouldn't have the answer to that. let me be painfully clear that we're in the process of

investigating this to the highest level that we can. we're incorporating all of our resources both citywide, office of emergency management. the gas company. all are partner agencies are involved in finding out as much as we can about this fire. other than that, we are having our fire marshall investigate this. and right now that's all the information that we have right now. >> chief, can you walk through the majority of the bodies? >> that's under, i really can't. >> reporter: can you walk us through the recovery? when you came on the scene, what parts that are solved? >> they're in the process -- they were in the process of extinguishing fire, and i can't go into details. they were in the process of distinguishing fire. >> reporter: one more question. does the atf -- who is the lead? >> philadelphia fire department fire marshall's office.

>> we'll be updating everyone soon. we'll do an update. >> thank you. >> what a tragedy. philadelphia fire officials confirming 13 people have died. seven of those 13 fatalities children. two people were taken to area hospitals, one adult, one child. the tragic statement which is the numbers are still fluid. it happened overnight. of course, we will be on top of this story as it develops. that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with more news next. aleve-x. it's fast, powerful

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a good wednesday morning to you. craig melvin here. the health of our nation and our democracy front and center. the white house covid response team will be holding a briefing at an especially consequential moment in our fight against this pandemic. military has been deployed to hospitals in new york and new hampshire. overwhelmed with patients. chicago public schools cancelling classes today over safety concerns from teachers. and if people weren't confused enough, the cdc is now clarifying the isolation guidance