correspondent allison barber is in jackson, mississippi. allison, what's the situation there? >> reporter: this hospital is the only hospital in the state of mississippi with level one trauma. they are the only hospital in this state that does transplants. right now they are full. their icu is overwhelmed with patients with covid-19, not only is there -- are their beds full, they don't have enough beds for the patients. they have had to turn away some patient transfers and air lift them to another state because they don't have the room for all the patients they're needing to see. more and more people who get sick from covid-19, the more and more they're seeing of these problems at this hospital. here is dr. lou ann woodward. >> we are negative 14 icu beds. that means holding in the emergency department or in the recovery room. we've got icu patients that need a bed and there's not one available. we're in a deficit. we're constantly in a deficit of icu beds. when one opens up, there's a patient who right away needs that icu bed. that's been our steady state for the last month o

>> all right, allison barber there in durham, north carolina. allison, thank you. >>> let's head about two hours south of durham to wilmington, north carolina, coastal town there, i'm joined by the mayor of wilmington, north carolina, mayor bill saffo. i came to know you reasonably well last year during the unfortunate hurricane there. it's good to see you again. i know that just this last friday you lifted more restrictions there in wilmington, restrictions for breweries, wineries, distilleries. are you at all concerned about this latest rise in cases and whether you're lifting these restrictions too early? >> sure, we are. we knew that when we went from the mitigation phase to the reopening phase that we would see a spike. we hoped that during the mitigation phase on all the things we've asked people to do, wearing the masks, having the essential distancing, washing your hands, would carry over into the reopening phase. we knew there would be a spike. obviously we're testing a lot more but we hope that the spike is just temporary. but we are pr

allison barber starting us off in lexington, kentucky, on the campus of the university of kentucky. right now, not all institutions of higher learning are working with the same tools when it comes to reopening safely. that's especially true for many historically black colleges and universities. as this headline notes, this pandemic has ushered in a new normal for historically underfunded hbcus. experts point out the pandemic has highlighted funding and resource inequities for some of these schools to make tough decisions to continue to educate their unique population. i want to bring in ruth simmons, the president of prairie view a&m university, an hbcu in texas. 80% of the schools more than 9,000 students there get some form of financial aid. ruth, thank you so much for your time this morning. let's start with some of the tough decisions that you're making right now for your faculty, for your students, based on the concerns that you're hearing from them. what are they? >> good morning, craig. first, let me clarify. not all hbcus are the same. we're part of a very large state system

allison barber is at the university of alabama where more than 1,200 students have tested positive foron, you've been speaking to some instructors who say the school is actually trying to silence the faculty. what did they tell you? >> yeah. good morning, geoff. we spoke to faculty members and university staff. some of them sent us internal emails they feel were sent to them to try to intimidate or scare them from speaking out against the school's actions in regards to the covid-19 outbreak. in one of those emails, a dean warned staff not to talk about students testing positive, even in general nondescript terms and said instructors should not notify the class of positive cases. two professors, two staffers, one tenured professor, the other a graduate teaching assistant, spoke to us on the record. >> the plan isn't working and administrators aren't admitting it. >> university of alabama forgets that it exists and functions and is because of the community, and if we're actively -- if the school is actively putting the community at harm, i think that is unethical, immoral and a huge conc

allison barber joins us from greenville. what are you seeing. >> reporter: we are positioned just across from the mall. we aren't able to get all the way down on the property to report from there. this mall opened two hours ago. in the morning it looked like maybe the only people we were going to see here today were employees. but within 10, 15 minutes of it opening we saw a line start to form of about two dozen people waiting to get inside. now there are at least 200 cars here. i was able to see a little bit inside the mall. it is unlike anything i have ever seen. at the beginning, at the front of the door you can see what looks like a handful of security guards, mall employees using some sort of infrared-like system to take people's temperatures as customers are walking into the mall. there is no seating to be found anywhere. seating where you would have -- where it is a booth, say, pushed up against a wall, where it can't be removed they have taken the cushions out so people don't have the option even sit down. simon prop

allison barber in michigan and from tampa, florida. good morning to you. actually afternoon new york time. start with you as pfizer headquarters in portage, michigan. where do things there on the vaccine rollout there? >> reporter: we're expecting to see trucks move from this plant within about 24 hours of the fda giving that emergency authorization. the loading dock is just over my shoulder here. we have not seen any trucks moving just yet but are expecting that to happen before the end of the weekend. previously hospitals we've spoken to in the area told us they expect to have access to this vaccine as early as monday. in the most states, people getting priority as recommended by the fda advisory board group will be health care workers and also people living in long-term care 2356789facilities. the fda commissioner reminds mee people it's a very big step forward things are far from over. listen to this. >> while our federal partners are already taking steps to distribute the vaccine we remind the public to remain vigilant as inoculation will take time. w

allison barber joining us in washington, d.c. we could hope it remains safe.aying the soundtrack for macho man. >> village people. >> president trump's unprecedented push to block the transition, the latest from the former chief of staff john kelly who told politico the wait hurts our national security. joining us now natasha bertrand. good to see you. john kelly joining a chorus of critics including the more than 150 former national security officials sounding the alarm about how this delay is dangerous for our country. can you explain what is at stake here? >> yeah, it is a really big issue. because presidential nominees have been getting these kinds of generalized intelligence briefings since about 1950s, right. this is and something that will prepare them to face national security challenges to the united states from day one. so that there is no gap in any institutional knowledge that would prevent them from responding very quickly to a attack or threat that the presidential nominee has not been privy to during their time as a private citizen. so this is a

joining me now is nbc news correspondent allison barber live for us in miami. florida obviously a critical state in this election. looking into this unexplained outage is a big question. what have you learned about what they're doing and have they made any changes to prevent something similar from happening later today? >> reporter: it's a confusing situation. there are still a lot of unanswered questions but we do know right now that the window to vote has been extended until 7:00 p.m. this evening. the window is from noon to 7:00 p.m. that's online and also in person. in terms of whether or not the website is working and whether or not we could potentially see these issues again this evening, i don't think we really have a clear answer on that. governor ron desantis said the website is working now but when he was asked about that at the press conference earlier today, this afternoon, he said this. >> it's working now but as you know, if 500,000 people descend at the same time it creates a bottle neck and that's what we see. hopefully it will be phone but we a

with that, we turn to correspondent allison barber, live from miami. dade county one of five counties in select battleground states that we're tracking this election report and allison, you're in such an interesting place politically. >> reporter: yeah, brian, and we spent the last 15 hours or so trying to talk to as many as voters we can in this area. we spoke to a life long republican who voted for president trump last election cycle and voting to biden and one who voted for president trump last election and voting for trump again. here's what they told us. >> it balances out the ticket. i mean, she's a definitely sharp, sharp legislation lay or the, she's done a good job in the senate, she was tough on crime as attorney general for california and she's young, she's energetic, she's smart. >> in this case, it's pretty important. you have to acknowledge that joe biden is 77 years old and so if he finishes this term, if he's elect td he'll be 81 or 82. so in this case, i think it's pretty important choice. >> aside from obviously being female and being

nbc's allison barber has his story. >> i still remember trading a supernintendo and a little bit of cashter: angel san cheechez >> i was first placed in handcuffs when i was like nine years old. by the time i was a teenager, i found myself more influenced by my neighborhood and my friends and peers and what they liked. >> reporter: by 17, angel sanchez was a gang member in and out of jail, and finally sent to prison for attempted murder. >> i was on my way to prison with a 30-year sentence and a 9th grade education. >> but angel's story didn't end in prison. far from it. that's where he began to turn the page. when he walked into the prison law library. >> i said to myself, if i ever got a chance to get out, i'm going to go to law school. so, let's figure out how that works. >> reporter: 12 years later, angel left prison with a reduced sentence. while living in a homeless shelter, he started and finished college. in between classes, he worked to pay restitution and his court fees. this spring, he earned his law degree from the university of miami. graduating in the top 10% of his class.

>> allison barber for us, thank you, so good to see you this afternoon, appreciate it.s who covers disinformation, extremism and the internet for nbc news. good to talk to you this afternoon, i've been watching allison's coverage throughout the day and i want to mention the folks we know are involved in this march. we know the proud boys are there. maybe a couple hours earlier that was mentioned, this is the group the president addressed on stage during the first debate with joe biden, stand back and stand by, a white nationalist group. and nicholas fuentes, alex jones, everybody knows who he is, an info wars founder, conspiracy theorist, a man that essentially said the things that happened in newtown, connecticut, those 20 plus children that were killed didn't actually happen. there are a lot of bad individuals involved in this million maga march today, ben collins. what do you make of what's happening in washington, d.c.? and with the biden administration coming in to a very divided country, with 70 million americans that voted for donald trump, how do you approach so

chris. >> allison barber in miami gardens florida. thank you very much. there's only one person who can help us make sense ouch the early voting numbers we are seeing, which i find equal points fascinating and bewildering, steve kornacki joins me at the big board. we saw each other in person which was a nice treat the other night. it's really hard, right, like we knew that this would be different than other elections both because we knew turnout would be very high, and the pandemic, it's hard to get your head around what do these numbers mean, walk us through it. >> they're certainly suggesting, give you the bottom line, 47 million ballots cast in this election, that's a third of what was cast in 2016 total. the pace here of early voting compared to 2016 is staggering. it speaks to high energy level. it speaks to the possibility here of turnout that's up at like 150, 155 million, when all is said and done. that would be 20 million more than 2016. the cautionary note on all of these numbers, you start seeing, though, is this. this is our nbc "wall street j

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. >> let's get to allison barber outside the pfizer headquarters in portage, michigan. allison, you have a front row seat now. i see action behind you. i do see trucks. take us through what is unfolding right now. >> yeah, ali, we're expecting to see two trucks start to leave here any minute now. we're told that one of the trucks will have shipments heading for states in the east part of the country. the other for states in the west part. we're not expect clear on what their first stop will be after they leave here. we believe that at least one or both of these will go to an airport in lansing, michigan, and eventually make their way down to those distribution centers in memphis, tennessee, and louisville, kentucky. we have watched this morning, pictures coming in from inside this pfizer plant, as workers have with such care gone through every single step to package these vials, filling them with dry ice, with thermal probes inside the boxes, so that the temperature can be monitor ed while the vaccines are in transit. each cardboard box has more than a thousand vials in

so with me now from georgia is nbc news correspondent allison barber. n, i know businesses are open there. what are you seeing in terms of foot traffic, and what's the psyche like of the georgian? >> reporter: katy, there's been a different feeling depending on who you talk to. the governor has been talking in recent days pointing to the number of confirmed covid-19 cases hospitalized saying it is at the lowest it has been since hospitals started reporting that data on april 8th. but still the total number of cases statewide continues to climb. we are now very close to 34,000 confirmed covid-19 cases in this state. this county is a designated hot spot in the state of georgia. this hospital is the largest one in the county. and doctors and nurses we have spoken to say they are expecting even more of a surge in the coming weeks. right now there are over 2,000 confirmed cases in this county to help with what they expect to be even more numbers of confirmed cases. the state is sending them cargo units. they will go right here on this footprint, they will sta

allison barber is live in des moines, iowa with the latest on their comings and goings. son. >> reporter: a number of 2020 hopefuls are braving the cold, making their way to community events, town halls across iowa. andrew yang kicked off his 17 day bus tour this morning. he's had two town halls today, one in iowa city, one in marion. he has another one this evening in independence, iowa. he's going to be on the bus tour, making stops every day until the caucuses on february 3rd. it would be impossible for the 2020 hopefuls serving in the u.s. senate, four senators are in the democratic presidential race, warren and klobuchar, they were in iowa today. sanders and bennett, they're in new hampshire. all four are hoping they can find a balance and banking on voters understanding they aren't going to be on the trail in the coming days and the coming weeks because they took an a oath and they have to stay in dc for the impeachment trial. >> i swore a constitutional oath as a united states senator to do my job. >> we have a constitutional duty to fulfill. i'm not worried about

correspondent, allison barber reports tonight. >> former new york city mirror, michael bloomberg's past is under a microscope. >> it was five years ago. >> the hits keep coming. >> it lasted 3,000 years. we can teach processes. i can teach anybody, even people in this room, some wall no offense intended. it's built around replacing people with technology and the skill sets that you have to learn or how to think and analyze. >> critics called those comments arrogant and bloomberg on out of touch elitist who doesn't understand modern farming. his campaign is now accusing the trump campaign of taking the comments out of context. he did not include the part where bloomberg talked about society. in a statement, he said mike wasn't talking about farmers at all. trump is misleading americans because donald trump's erratic policies have devastated american farms. a spokesperson for the trump campaign denied. he is flattering himself if he thinks we are paying that much attention to him. they made the rounds on social media. fellow democrats started to take aim at the billionaire does this man.

now allison barber's life and manchester.eter, looking at that, sanders has more energy than others in in that montage we just showed. >> the sanders campaign is doing something that is very hard to do. there are people that just showed up because they are hoping to canvas for senator bernie sanders. they have a lot of manpower he here. and in fact, we were told that the head of a sanders drop by later on this afternoon there are busloads of people from rhode island and new york who are also here. but the argument that he's making, he does not think he owes anything to anybody because he's got the most money without having to court wealthy donors. >> historically in america what candidates do is, i need a lot of money, they go to some millionaire or billionaires home and sit around and raise a lot of money. and you want my donors. >> rival campaigns told us for months that they thought sanders and elizabeth warren would have a home-field advantage here. but warren has struggled lately including last night. >> the danger is re

allison barber and ashley burns. allison, the state just passed 10,000 new deaths, and now they've got restrictions extended there. what is it like on the ground? this is a state where restrictions have been fought against from the beginning. people were in the state house fighting back against closing gyms. >> reporter: yes, stephanie. the current extension of restrictions that stopped things like indoor dining it would have ended on tuesday, but instead they have extended what they called the pause until december 20th. the state health officials, the governor, they say while they've seen some progress in terms of covid daily infection rates and perhaps the number may be stabilizing, they say they really have not seen any substantial progress as relates to deaths and covid hospitalizations so say they need the extra 12 days to assess what the impact of the thanksgiving holiday might be. we are at a brewerly in royal oak. royal oak brewery has been here since 1995 when the first shutdown happened in michigan they tell

allison barber joining me now from outside st. louis. earned from health care workers there? >> reporter: we went on to one of the icu hospitals here in st. paul. the majority of the patients had covid-19, but some did not. other emergencies have not stopped because of covid-19. we saw that noncovid-19 patient coded. we want to warn you that the video we are about to show you is troubling and could be considered graphic for some. >> attention, please. >> cart. ultrasound. >> anything i can do to help? >> hold for greg, ultrasound. >> everybody clear. >> clear. >> two, three -- >> yes, shock. continue doing cpr. >> going in. >> if you noticed in that video, it took a lot of health care workers in that room fighting tooth and nail to stabilize that patient and bring them back. when you have a number of covid patients being hospitalized every single day, experts say it puts a strain on the system because they still have their normal emergencies and normal patient loads they need to deal with. hospitals when we talk about capacity, we're not

allison barber is live in columbus. allison. >> reporter: louisiana was supposed to head to the polls on april 4th but the secretary of state decided postpone the election in light of covid-19. the coronavirus is impacting every aspect of our lives and it's no surprise that it's impacting the primary as well. joe biden's campaign is encouraging voters who feel healthy, are not exhibiting symptoms and don't believe they've been exposed to go out and vote but if voters are part of the at risk population or have been exposed to covid-19, the campaign says they encourage them to explore absentee and vote by mail options. bernie sanders said he has spoken about the safety of the primary election. >> if schools are being shut down, and they are, what are parents supposed to do? we have to talked to the dnc about this. >> no, no, no. >> reporter: four states vote on tuesday. arizona, florida, illinois and ohio. officials in each state say voting is going to continue as planned. we are in franklin county, ohio in the back of one

allison barber keeping an eye on candidates who really needed a big shot of momentum but we begin witheter doocy in his natural habitat, the spin room. >> reporter: bernie sanders was at center stage meaning a lot more talk from all the other candidates about democratic socialism. what does that mean and what challenges that present as they try to figure out who can beat donald trump. >> got the most votes of anybody besides himself are because we are putting together this vision that is inclusive, future focused and paid attention to the need to hold onto the house and the senate. you have joe cunningham flipped a red this to do blue, one for the democrats in the low country and a good shot at defeating lindsey graham, i went them to have someone at the top of the ticket paying attention to how to make things easier, not harder for them to win. >> does that have an impact in the next couple days or was it just tough tv? >> it is a little noisy up there but at the end of the day there was a chance for a substantive conversation wire visions are different and i value the opportunity to

allison barber reports. >> reporter: james cliburn, the most influential politician in south carolina is all in. >> for joe biden, south carolina. >> endorsement the political world has been waiting for, one that could send ripples throughout the democratic primary. hours before, joe biden made a bold prediction. >> i will when the african-american vote. >> if you don't want south carolina but you continue? >> i will win south carolina. >> he was there in the gap in recent staples, but warning supporters joe biden is far from the candidate democrats want or need to beat donald trump. >> it is not a record history that will excite people, bring them into the political process and beat trump. >> bernie sanders is the clear frontrunner and took it from all sides of the debate stage. >> bernie and i want to see universal healthcare but bernie's plan doesn't explain how to get there, doesn't show how he will get enough allies into it, doesn't show enough about how we are going to pay for it. >> we are not going to win these critical house and senate races if people in those races have to e

this evening allison barber previews the primary season from new hampshire. >> reporter: pete buttigieg is starting 2020 on a high note, the campaign raised $24.7 million in the last two months alone and for all of 2019 they say they raised $76 million for 73,000 individual donors, big numbers for a candidate who started 2019 with little name recognition and even less money. at midnight 2020 came, with it the end of the fourth quarter filing deadline. senator bernie sanders as his campaign received 5 million individual contributions, the booker campaign said they beat their your end goal of $800,000, andrew yang says his campaign expects to raise over $12.5 million in the fourth quarter, 25% increase. more money means more resources, more ads, more staff that hopefully turn into votes on election day. the iowa caucuses are 33 days away at the new hampshire primary eight days after that and nevada, then south carolina. on march 3rd it is supertuesday, 6 of the most popular states of primaries. elections for over 50% of the democratic party delegates will have taken place by the end of ma

. >> allison barber is live in new hampshire with the latest developments. >> if we thought iowa would be settled by now we were wrong. it is still pretty up in the air. the iowa democratic party says they have everything counted, 100% of precincts reporting, pete buttigieg and bernie sanders are essentially tied, but even though the democratic places all the results are in the decision desk is not declared a weather, neither has the associated press. they were unable to declare a winner because of the tight margin between buttigieg and sanders and irregularities in the caucus process. released by iowa democrats on wednesday have a lot of inconsistencies, new york times analyze the results and found more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, missing data order lot possible under the iowa caucuses. the mistakes appear unintentional but not all of them are minor. it is possible we could have a winner in new hampshire before iowa is settled. tom perez is asking to re-canvas and renew all the worksheets to ensure accuracy, not clear if the iowa democratic p

allison barber reporting in concorde where they are feeling good. >> a huge night for this campaign.e campaign manager announced they raised $2.5 million and the polls closed. aides told me they were working to add staff in nevada, south carolina and all the supertuesday states. the campaign announced a 7-figure add in nevada that will start airing tomorrow in the las vegas and reno markets. the room in concorde was filled with cheers, chance of amy and vote amy, beat trump. he reminded senator she began her campaign in a blizzard and people did not expect it to last. >> then they predicted we wouldn't make it to the summer. we did. then they predicted we wouldn't make it to the debatt the debat hampshire. [applause] >> what we have been a steady and strong and never quit. i think that sounds pretty good for a president. >> klobuchar got in a subtle dig at the other 2020 contenders telling supporters she does not have as big a bank account as some, she is not a newcomer without political experience, she said what i do is get things done based on what we have seen in new hampshire, ha

allison barber, nbc news. the confederate monument debate.xd that's coming up next on politics q%=99ñt on %=99 for the sweaty faces, and the hidden smiles. the foggy glasses, and the sore ears. the determined looks, and the muffled laughs. a simple piece of fabric makes a big statement: i care. let's all do our part to slow the spread. wear a mask. learn more at covid19.ca.gov. ♪ ♪ t(fáfá nation." tonight's lea% deja vu.j(p&h(lc% again, president trumpu f/ ' ááq(jt nightfáfá against another backdrop of monuments and military jets, this time on the national mall, the president down t gauntlet in defense of dead white men paying no heed toqu their misdeeds as he criticized deeds still deserve statues. we are now in the process of defeating the radical lefts, th1 marxist, the anarchist, theci] agitators and the lootesrs. in every age there are alwaysxd those who seek to lie about the past in order to gain power if the present. those that are lying aboutxdÑi r history, thoseÑi who want us toe ashamed of whoe1 we a

correspondent allison barber reports from columbus, ohio. vening, allison. >> to states, georgia and louisiana planned to postpone their elections but before states voting on tuesdays say their primary will proceed as planned. 577 delegates are up for grabs in arizona, florida, illinois and ohio. in ohio election officials say in person voting early turnout is about 80% higher than was this time in 2016. schools and restaurants lock their doors, peoples avoid each other, coworkers are getting trained and election officials are preparing to distribute bags filled with gloves, hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes to every polling location. >> this is a requirement. reporter: they are assuring voters that this election will be safe. >> mass gatherings will not be permitted. voting locations is very different from that. it's a neighborhood gathering in a place where people will walk into, and conduct their business and walk out. reporter: they said they've successfully relocated polling locations in senior facilities and training will be provid

nbc's allison barber, thank you so much for that reporting. >>> the next hour of "deadline: white housego anywhere. we're all putting things off, especially in these times. but some things are too serious to be ignored. if you still have symptoms of crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis even after trying other medications, it may be a sign of damaging inflammation, which left untreated, could get much worse. please make an appointment to see your gastroenterologist right away. or connect with them online. once you do, seeing the doctor is one less thing to worry about. need help finding a doctor? head to crohnsandcolitis.com ♪ i got it all from you ♪ i'm always pushing through ♪ i know we'll make it to the finish line ♪ ♪ i know you're waiting on the other side ♪ ♪ i'm like you on-demand glucose monitoring. because they're always on. another life-changing technology from abbott. so you don't wait for life. you live it. >>> in terms of the pardons, you're not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons. nor are going to see in our administration an approach to mak

hebert, really quickly, going back to allison barber's great report that we also just saw before theu expect we will see more cases in rural areas as we move forward? >> absolutely. it is an infectious prairie fire about to start in rural america. they have no access. their food insecure. about 40% of the people don't have any place to get food, especially after the covid-19 outbreak. we know their hospitals are 30 miles per hour at best and we're talking about not having ventilators in places, these places don't necessarily have hospital or hospital beds. so when you think about the children in this population who god forbid that dire situation in england starts to come over here, that's going to make a dire situation more devastating for our children. they have a really bat setup for failure. so what we must do is do the thing i mentioned and get everything on one page for their survival, i think so. >> dr. corey hebert, thank you for your time this hour. try to enjoy your weekend if you can, sir. >>> that's going to do it for me on this friday. new york governor andrew cuomo set t

. >> allison barber to set us up from des moines, iowa.ng about this. >> yeah, hey, harris. the two progressive frontrunners and long-time friends are now at each other's throats. in the past they have largely avoided directly criticizing each other. now they're calling each other out by names and fights are getting personal. first, a back and forth over reports that senator sanders campaign advised volunteers to paint senator warren as a candidate of the elites. then it went downhill. the pair met at warren's apartment in 2018. warren said she planned to run for president and sanders said he didn't believe a woman could win. the sanders campaign called it a lie. warren said it's ludicrous to say that a woman continue win. what i did say is donald trump is a sexist, a racist and a liar and weaponized whatever he could. a few hours later, senator warren released a statement of her own. she confirmed the 2018 meeting and said among the topics that came up, what would happen if the democrats nominate add female candidate. warren said she's no

al son barber is -- allison barber is braving the cold in new hampshire with the latest. >> reporter: eric, eight candidates appeared here in concord at a forum focused on reproductive rights. former mayor pete buttigieg spoke first, then andrew yang, tom stier, bernie sanders, amy klobuchar and elizabeth warren and duvall patrick. there was a lot of talk about the courts and the role they play in regards to these issues. there was also talk about lessons to be learned from republicans. here's senator bernie sanders. >> you have a fed ar federalist society, a well funded right wing group who works with young lawyers, i nurtures them, takes them along. we've got to do the same thing. we have to take a look at good young legal minds all over this country and cultivate them through the courts. we can learns loss sense from what the right wing is doing in this country. >> reporter: with three days to go, it seems pete buttigieg is getting more popular in new hampshire. in a tracking poll that looks at support of primary voters, buttigieg has gone up 2 points in just two days. san terse's

correspondent allison barber reports from columbus, ohio. allison. >> to states, georgia and louisiana planned to postpone their elections but before states voting on tuesdays say their primary will proceed as planned. 577 delegates are up for grabs in arizona, florida, illinois and ohio. in ohio election officials say in person voting early turnout is about 80% higher than was this time in 2016. schools and restaurants lock their doors, peoples avoid each other, coworkers are getting trained and election officials are preparing to distribute bags filled with gloves, hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes to every polling location. >> this is a requirement. reporter: they are assuring voters that this election will be safe. >> mass gatherings will not be permitted. voting locations is very different from that. it's a neighborhood gathering in a place where people will walk into, and conduct their business and walk out. reporter: they said they've successfully relocated polling locations in senior facilities and training will be provided by th

allison barber happens to be in missouri, st. uis, on the campaign trail where the former vice president is campaigning today. hi, allison. how are you? >> reporter: hey, eric. former vice president joe biden spoke to a sizable crowd here in st. louis. he told them if they want a candidate who can beat donald trump and is also a lifelong democrat, he is their guy. listen here. >> what a difference a week makes. the press has declared biden's campaign is dead. but south carolina had something to say about that. then came super tuesday. senator sanders likes to say he'll need a record turnout to defeat donald trump. he's right. we're the campaign that's going to do that record turnout. >> reporter: biden phoned into a fundraiser the other day and told supporters he thinks the virginia primary was possibly the most significant thing to happen to his campaign. he said it shifted the narrative and showed that biden can get significant voter turnout. the rally today was a big one, the campaign estimates over 1500 people were here. three

make the difference between life and death for so many of these individuals, i'm joined by nbc's allison barber live for us in fargo, north dakota, good to see you, allison, thanks for joining us on this, we know the numbers in north dakota has been astounding as of late. more than 10% of north dakotans have gotten covid-19. how are emts and balance companies coping with the surge? >> what they're doing, the best they can, it's not easy. we spent the last 2 1/2 days in jamestown, north dakota with the only paramedic service in that area, jamestown area ambulance, here's what they had to say. >> i watch the news report like six months ago and said can you imagine a world where you call 9911 and an ambulance does not respond. ten states deem the ems as an essential service to the community. we're not one of them. when you take an already overwhelmed and stressed out system and continue to pile more onto its back, of course it's going to bend. it's going to -- and at some point it's going to break. >> so again that is the only ambulance service for jamestown, north dakota. they have a total of fou

allison barber is in lansing, michigan. tell us more about what the nurses are doing? >> reporter: we weren't inside the hospital all that long, but it didn't take us a very long time to see a moment of genuine compassion. what you're about to see was all for one man, one patient, who has been in this hospital in critical care with covid-19 for 31 days. one of the few patients to be ventilated and then survive. watch. >> good morning! >> good morning, good morning. >> happy birthday, sir. >> thank you, sir. >> we got a cupcake here for you. >> the celebration is a milestone for them, a step in the right direction. because so many of them don't make it. when they succeed, and successfully get through certain milestones with things, like coming off the ventilator, the labs improve, we want to celebrate those milestones with them. the fact that it's his birthday and he's here, we're celebrating, we're his extended family. because they can't be here. >> those nurses, hospital staff, as many as they could fit, went into that room and sang to him. the ones that couldn't get

>> all right, allison barber, thank you for your great reporting this morning. it, from mississippi. >>> andy slavitt is joining us now. the host of the podcast "in the bubble." andy, thank you for joining me. i really appreciate it. i want to start off with something that you tweeted, that the u.s. should throw every resource for defeating the virus for four weeks, including shutting down again, in order to get back to normal. talk about this. how would it work? >> we ask ourselves why in different parts of the world, france, italy, spain, asia, australia, new zealand, are they returning to life, to school in a safer way, people able to travel. that's because they did something we didn't do here in the u.s., and i would argue we never really did a shutdown here in the u.s. we kind of did a shutdown where about half of the people stayed in and half the people were deemed essential workers, meaning they were driving truck s, giving us the services we all value, delivering food to our door, but that meant that the virus was circulating. if we really want to move b

i want to turn now to allison barber in midland, michigan. a lot of places we've been over the last few days are big cities. it is a lot easier for people in big cities to get access to the vaccine. what's it like in rural areas like where you are? mid-michigan medical center will get the vaccine here. you can see stations are set up. they will go ahead and vaccinate some of their employees here, but then they're going to take the vaccine to more rural communities. look at this map with me here. we are here. 's in midland. but this hospital, they have subsidiaries all across northeast michigan. these are rural communities. and northeast michigan has been hit particularly hard by covid-19. for a lot of these different communities, the challenge is that they do not have those ultra cold freezers we know are necessary to store the pfizer vaccine, and many of these communities, they can't afford them. so that's where this hospital in midland, where they come in. >> what's it like for those communities right now in terms of access to testing? >> r

nbc's allison barber has made her way to avon, indiana. she's outside a high school there following this part of the story. allison, what kind of precautions are in place for students and teachers who are back in the building, and what are you hearing from parents and teachers? >> reporter: hey, craig, at this school like we've heard from so many other places as they move towards reopening, they have enhanced their cleaning protocols here. masks are mandatory for the majority of students as well as teachers and other staff members. use of water fountains, that's limited. they can't be used by students unless they are filling up a water bottle they have brought from home. they have rearranged classroom furniture to try to make it easier for students and staff to space out, give each other more personal space and to actually socially distance. some parents we have spoken to, we spoke to one parent off camera and they told us because of those safety precautions, they have been inside the classrooms and seen them. they said they feel comfortab

>> allison barber in north dakota for us, thanks.t is part of when you hear about the money and covid relief for state and local governments, a lot of times that's -- that money is what is supporting some of these services so be thinking about that when you hear about the financial strain on state and local governments. >>> california meanwhile setting national record on wednesday with the most new cases reported for a state in a single day. more than 28,000. wur as i mentioned the state is gearing up for some of the toughest restrictions since that spring surge. here's governor newsom yesterday. >> the bottom line is if we don't act now our hospital system will be overwhelmed. if we don't act now we'll continue to see a death rate climb, more lives lost. here's what we are introducing today. regions where the icu capacity is falling below 15% we are now mandating that we are implementing a stay-at-home order for three weeks. >> joining me now is dr. mark morocco from the ucla medical center in california. doctor, you wrote an op-ed

. >>> allison barber covering things in washington, d.c. tonight where a strong line of thunderstorms did dampen the crowd a little bit, but for the most part i understand they stayed in place, they kept on marching. >> yeah, that's right. the rain did send some people home as you would expect. there was a lot of lightning, a whole lot of heavy rain. but you can see a small, medium sized but resilient crowd is still here in lafayette square. a lot of them stayed through all of the rain and the storm. they continued to chant and make their voices heard. there is no curfew in effect in d.c. tonight. this is the first night in the last couple of days there hasn't been a curfew. remember, d.c. is a federal city and they have jurisdiction over most of the city, but not all of it. walk a little back this way, what we see happening on federal ground in lafayette square in the park. look through this fence it is hard to see because of the lightning, but you will see a lot of officers in riot gear just past the trees back here. for the most part in

doctors here in this place tired and overwhelmed but still doing their best like so many our allison barber is live in atlantic inside that hospital, what did you see? >> reporter: yes, shepard, it did not take us very long. once we got on the critical care floor here at sparrow hospital what you are about to see was for a man who has been a patient in the icu with covid-19 for 31 days and he's one of the few patients to survived after being placed on a ventilator ♪ ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday dear william ♪ happy birthday to you >> happily birthday! >> at a time when most patients in the hospital covid or not or unable to have any sort of visitors, care givers are spending their holidays away from their family and children to make sure strangers have a hand to hold, someone to remember their birthday when they needed most >> you know people see it as a holiday, for us, care giver is just another day for us to make sure our patients are well taken care of. i am sorry -- it is very emotional and it is hard to answer that question and not get tear teary-ey

. >> allison barber for us there in washington, d.c. at the u.s. capitol. thank you. >>> let's go to los angeles where police in hood started making arrests hours after that curfew took effect on tuesday night. nbc's aaron mclaughlin is in l.a. for us. those protests again, erin, largely peaceful. then we saw the arrests later in the night. what's the situation right there this morning? >> reporter: that's right, craig. those arrests last night we're told were largely due to curfew violations. i'm here on the hollywood walk of fame. the situation here is pretty calm. you can see over this way there is the national guard out as well as over across the street people still boarding up their windows, bracing for potential violence. the national guard telling me the situation was pretty peaceful. they noticed a marked difference compared to previous nights. they said that they believe that's in part due to their presence here as well to the curfew. curfew which is controversial. some human rights advocates saying the curfew is in violation of first amendment rig

at first tonight, we are off to des moines war correspondent allison barber has the latest on the caucushaos. >> the iowa democratic party says they will continue releasing results as they become available. right now former mayor pete buttigieg is speaking to supporters in a town hall in new hampshire. he says regardless of what happens next, he believes this is an astonishing victory for his campaign, a senior advisor for senator bernie sanders telling fox news "we are gratified that in the partial release so far it's clear in the first and second round, more people voted for bernie than any other candidate in the field. "speak of. >> i don't understand what that means. >> we should all be disappointment in the inability of the party to come up with timely results. >> frustration. >> they ought to get it together and release all of the data. >> 21 hours after the caucus began, the iowa democratic party released a majority of the results. monday began like many caucuses before it. iowa winds showed up, signed in and gathered in groups signifying support for particular candidates but a lo

allison barber, nbc news, columbia, south carolina. >>> joining us now, dr. matthew hoskins. he's an emergency room physician in charleston, south carolina. thanks for taking the time. hospitals in houston have been turning patients away because they're overwhelmed. what is it like in charleston? do you have enough icu beds and ppe? >> you know, our admin has done a really good job of planning for this for the past few months. we definitely are seeing a large surge in cases. you know, we've always been concerned about places to put the patients, ppe, the normal concerns, but we're doing a good job. we're constantly trying to accommodate and create space for the patients. >> dr. hoskins, south carolina's health department reported 1,700 new cases in the last 24 hours and they say more than 1,400 hospital beds are being used by covid patients. what are you doing to treat those patients and keep the death threat down? are treatments like remdesivir working at all? >> yeah, there's been good data with remdesivir. there's pretty clear evidence, keeping the oxygenation at a decent

allison barber, fox news. >>> services go 49ers are heading to super bowl liv.le they are getting ready for the big game in miami, many are also reliving last night's epic the three at levi stadium in santa clara. >> i've never been in a stadium that loud before. everyone was so excited. >> levi stadium may finally have a signature season. good evening. 49ers fans are still flying high after last nights decisive win over the packers. next up for the team, miami. >> maria naylor is live. and you've been talking to people from all over who are still celebrating? >> the confetti is here. the championship shirts were here in the stores and today we talked to many people who flew in from all over the country. >> at the 49ers team store in levi stadium it felt like the happiest place on earth for 49ers fans. they shelled out $40 for new nfc championship t-shirts and hats. one family from new mexico drove 14 hours to attend the game. and the unforgettable experience did not come cheap. >>

nbc's allison barber, she caught up with some of those voters who asked president trump questions at the town hall there in miami. what did they say, allison? >> reporter: hey, craig, yeah, it's question we often ask voters after debates or town halls, did this help you move closer towards one candidate or move you further away from the other? the answers are rarely the same. and in the pena household the answers couldn't be further apart. barbara pena plans to support president trump and her daughter plans to support former vice president joe biden. both asked president trump questions last night about covid-19. >> i think it actually strengthened my vote. >> the town hall solidified my vote for joe biden because i think in a lot of his answers i saw a lot of, you know, blaming the other side. >> i think it would have been helpful if he said, wear a mask. he said if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. >> well, that's different. like glimpse into our home life. >> reporter: florida is of course a swing state. i know we say that a lot and we say it because we really mean it. this is

joining me from springfield, missouri, allison barber, also with me dr. jha. as i understand it now, it is not getting its initial doses of vaccines. what are you hearing about the delays? >> reporter: we were out at the loading decks waiting to see a fedex come in with shipments of the moderna vaccine. that did not happen. that shipment will not be coming today as planned. the president and ceo of cox health says they're expecting to get their shipment tomorrow morning. they received smaller shipments at some of their rural hospitals within the system. but for reasons that are still not entirely clear, the big shipment that was going to come to springfield today, that has been delayed at least until tomorrow. i asked the president and ceo if he had any concerns that this delay was perhaps similar to some of the issues that general perna with operation warp speed acknowledged over the weekend in terms of shipment delays with the pfizer vaccine and misallocations, people not getting as much as the vaccine as they were promised or expecting. he says for now they

allison barber has that story. >> 62% of precincts reporting.ts from all of them. in polk county, we are missing results from half of the precincts. here's where we stand right now: buttigieg told reporters regardless of what happens next, this is an astonishing victory for his campaign. iowa is releasing first alignment, final alignment and the state delegates. that's how we get a winner. in a statement the campaign said we are gratified in the partial data release, in the first and second round more people voted for bernie sanders than any other candidate in the field. former vice-president joe biden told peter doocy he is still waiting. >> the partial results? >> let's wait until they are all in. i feel good so far. >> iowa has 41 delegates to win for a candidate to receive the democratic nomination they need 1,991 delegates. >> martha: we will see where it goes. waiting for the rest of the numbers and see if that data changes. allison, thank you reporting in iowa. the areas around des moines, the suburban areas. buttigieg did well in those.