♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: tonight with a vaccine on the horizon, the warning from top officials, the worst days are still ahead. so americans can't let their guards down. as the u.s. nears 15 million coronavirus cases, governors of new york and california warn hospitals could be overrun. alifornians nowfornians now under stay-at-home orders as new york's governor says indoor dining could shut down again. the desperate effort tonight to expand hospital capacity. >> nobody who has gone into medicine ever thought they would be providing care in a parking garage. >> o'donnell: plus great britain prepares to administer the first vaccine tomorrow. and did the u.s. government pass up the opportunity this summer up the opportunity this summer to buy more doses of the pfizer vaccine? worried about the winter holidays, why dr. anthony fauci says christmas scares him more

than thanksgiving. plus what the nation's top infectious disease expert is saying about a national plan to get kids back in the classroom. >> the safer place to be for the children would be in school. >> o'donnell: the biden health team, the president-elect announces the officials who will lead his pandemic response. how biden hopes to change course >> who biden will select as his defense secretary. rudy giuliani, sick, the rudy giuliani sick, the president's personal lawyer diagnosed with covid as the president's campaign to overturn the election is dealt two more losses in court. the education pandemic. an increase in failing grades and a decrease in attendance. how schools are trying to avoid the covid slide. e'd meet "time magazine's" first kid of the year. she's out to solve the world's she's only 15.e's only 15. >> this is the cbs evening news with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capitol.

>> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west and thank you for joining us. we're going to begin with breaking news. the coronavirus is now rocketing across the u.s. so rapidly more than one million people have been infected in just the past five days and that is pushing the country past 14.9 mi cases. dr. anthony fauci telling cbs news the coming weeks will be even worse, with the u.s. breaking records every day for new cases and deaths. and he says the country hasn't even seen the full brunt of infections from thanksgiving. tonight one model used by the white house says deaths could hit 3,000 a day by mid-january. and as we come on the air more americans are hospitalized with covid right now than ever. and that is pushing medical centers to the edge and forcing states to make some drastic moves to stop the virus from spreading. california's governor along with ea counties have counties have put 33 million people-- nearly the entire state-- under virtual lockdown. and new york's governor now says if beds keep filling up there, he will stop restaurants in new

york city from serving meals dodoor. now, experts say all of that makes a vaccine one of the country's best hopes for stopping this crisis. we've got some new reporting on that tonight on the vaccine, along with important information for you and your family. and our team of correspondents is standing by to cover it all. is standing by to cover it all. cbs' carter evans will lead off our coverage from santa monica, california. good evening, carter. >> reporter: good evening, grah. california is in crisis. nearly 33 million people locked down again. now, normally the promenade here in santa monica is very busy. people here are taking significant precautions. but the state says it's just not enough. california hospitals are filling up fast, with cases skyrocketing. tonight nearly every one in the state is being ordered to stay home. at the height of holiday shopping all stores are now limited to 20% capacity. hotels are being told not to take in tourists, only essential workers, and at restaurants, no indoor or outdoor dining.

without that revenue, angela marsden says she may have to close her restaurant. in the same parking lot, a production company legally set up catering for its crew. >> tell me that this is dangerous, but right next to me, as a slap in my face, this is safe? >> reporter: tonight a grim reality: every hour the u.s. is seeing more than 8,000 new covid cases and nearly 100 deaths. dr. anthony fauci telling norah o'donnell today the worst is yet to come. >> the blitz from thanksgiving isn't even here yet. so we're getting those staggering numbers of new cases and hospitalizations before we even feel the full brunt of the thanksgiving holiday. >> reporter: to illustrate how >> reporter: to illustrate how fast the virus can spread, this map shows cell phone signals of penn state university students as they traveled thanksgiving weekend. in hawaii a somber gathering at pearl harbor to remember the day that will live in infamy when

the attack thathe attack that launched america into world war ii. nearly the same number of covid deaths are now reported every day nationwide. in the u.k. the vaccine rollout begins tomorrow in more than 50 hospitals in what is being called the biggest health challenge the country has ever faced. here in the u.s. the f.d.a. could authorize the pfizer vaccine by the end of the week. once there's approval, the first shipments could come within 24 hours. last week chicago mourned the death of lupe lopez, a longtime 911 dispatcher. lopez's wife was hospitalized at the time and family members were hopeful she would return home soon. maria lopez died on saturday, also from covid. maria's daughter told the "chicago tribune" she screamed into her pillow so no one would hear her pain. now, the c.d.c. says indoor dining is a key source of covid spread and today new york governor andrew cuomo said he

will shut down indoor dining in new york city if hospitalizations continue to rise over the next five days. norah. >> o'donnell: carter evans, thank you. tonight doctors and nurses tell rge is the worserge is the worse since the pandemic began and able to care forable to care for future patients. nevada has the highest number of ofvid hospitalizations per covid hospitalizations per capita. and tonight cbs' david begnaud shows how one hospital was forced to take drastic measures. >> reporter: renown health in reno, nevada, services one million people, over 100,000 square miles. e hospital is inital is in crisis mode. look at what they have had to resort to. they're putting patients in their parking garage. >> our front line caregivers are seeing things that they never would have imagined. >> reporter: anthony slonim is president and c.e.o. of renown health. for him, covid is personal. >> this condition took my father's life. we couldn't be there for him,

but i know as a former i.c.u. doctor that they were there comforting him. >> reporter: on the day that slonim's father died, the field hospital opened. 265 people have been treated here in just the last three weeks. >> nobody who has gone into medicine ever thought they would be providing care in a parking garage. >> reporter: jacob keeperman is an i.c.u. doctor at renown health. keeperman had just moved to reno to start working here and managing the field hospital when he tweeted this picture right before it opened. some people tweeted that it was fake. fake. and one of those tweets was retweeted by president trump. >> would any hospital want to show that they are operating out of a parking garage if it wasn't real? people's loved ones are dying every day. >> reporter: since march more than 2,000 people have died in the state of nevada from covid-19. >> i have not seen anything like this from the time that i have n health care. care. >> reporter: janet baum is the field hospital's nursing manager. >> never in my wildest nightmares would i ever have

thought that we would ever see something that would be killing this many people. >> reporter: tonight we made it us las vegas where i just spoke with one of the lead i.c.u. doctors at the main hospital here and she said they are so extremely busy with some of the sickest covid patients. about that reno hospital, i want you to know they got a lot of other things to do that are more important than letting a news crew in but, norah, ever since that tweet went out suggesting that what they were doing was fake and the president retweeted it, they wanted us in there to show you what we saw and to let you know just how real it is. >> o'donnell: stunning to think you have to get treatment in a garage. david begnaud, thank you. today dr. anthony fauci said stay at home orders are needed ro prevent hospitals from being overrun, and should last long enough to ensure that everyone who needs lifesaving care can get it. we spoke with dr. fauci as part of the milken institute's future of health summit. >> we have a baseline of infections that literally is

breaking records every day, number of hospitalizations and mbers of deaths.s the numbers are really stunning. >> o'donnell: you said that christmas could be even more of a challenge than thanksgiving. how so? >> when you look at thanksgiving, that's a very brief period of time, of travel and congregating. when you are talking about christmas, you go through christmas and hanukkah, you go through the week between christmas and new years and then you have another celebration, on new years. that extends that vulnerable period by two or three times what you do in thanksgiving. that's the reason why the christmas issue bothers me even more than thanksgiving. >> o'donnell: we're seeing students struggling with remote learning, more failing grades. why isn't there some national plan about getting kids back in school? >> the default position you >> the default position you should have is to bring the children back to school. it looks like now that the test positivity of children in schools compared to the

comparable community, is really relatively low. so it seems now maybe counterintuitive, that the safer place to be for the children would be in school. >> o'donnell: do you expect that the vaccine will be like a flu vaccine, meaning you will have to get a new shot every year? >> i'm not so sure it would be every year, but i would be surprised if it gave lifelong immunity the way the measles vaccine does. >> o'donnell: question from jan in arizona who says, "will people who already had the virus be recommended to get the vaccine as well?" >> the answer is yes, because once you get infected with the virus, it isn't certain how long that protection would be. >> o'donnell: what is your favorite part of the upcoming holiday season? >> my birthday is christmas eve. ( laughs ) >> o'donnell: and how will your plans change for christmas? >> for the first time in more than 30 years, i am not spending the christmas holidays with my daughters. >> o'donnell: that is how many and coronavirus will likely be the biggest challenge facing president-elect biden when he

takes the oath of office in january. today he revealed the people who will work in his administration to fight covid. tonight there is breaking news on his pick to lead the pentagon. cbs's nikole killion has more. >> reporter: faced with the grim reality >> reporter: faced with a grim reality of potentially 400,000 dead from coronavirus by the time he takes office next month, president-elect joe biden unveiled a health team that he hopes can turn the tide. >> we will take steps that will change the course of this disease. >> reporter: it features a who's who of scientific and medical experts including dr. anthony fauci to stay on as chief medical advisor. dr. vivek murthy to reprise his role from the obama administration as surgeon general. and dr. rochelle walensky, an infectious disease expert to lead the centers for disease control. >> we're here to stand up for the right way to do things. >> reporter: one surprise pick, california attorney general javier becerra who would become the first latino health and human services secretary. his nomination comes days after the congressional hispanic

caucus pressed the transition for greater representation. are you satisfied with the president-elect's picks thus far? >> it's too early to tell. >> reporter: n.a.a.c.p. president derrick johnson and other civil rights leaders meet with mr. biden tuesday. they want more african-americans in top cabinet posts. >> for african-americans we are often seen for our output-- can we turn out the vote, can we assist in getting someone elected-- but we want to make sure that we are also heard for our input. >> reporter: cbs news has learned that the president-elect intends to nominate retired general lloyd austin as his defense secretary. he would be the first african-american to serve in that role. norah? >> o'donnell: all right. nikole killion, thank you. with president trump's top campaign lawyer rudy giuliani in the hospital fighting coronavirus, and more states certifying their results, there are questions tonight about the future of the president's legal fight to overturn the election.

cbs' paula reid reports tonight from the white house. >> reporter: president trump lost the 2020 election, but again today argued falsely that he was cheated out of victory. >> it was a rigged election. >> reporter: and as the court room losses challenging the ed to mount, hised to mount, his lawyer leading that fight, rudy giuliani, ended up in a washington hospital with covid. >> rudy is doing well. i just spoke to him, he is doing very well. >> reporter: judges in michigan gia today both rejectedrejected trump's campaign-backed lawsuit trying to overturn the results. >> stop the steal! >> reporter: armed trump supporters protested outside the home of michigan's democratic secretary of state joselyn benson. several georgia election officials have also found themselves under threat. to make debuedto make debunked claims of a stolen election is hurting our state. >> reporter: in part because of president trump's repeated attacks on them. >> you have to make sure your secretary of state knows what

the hell he's doing. >> reporter: that secretary of state, a republican, recertified the results today after a second recount. >> we have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unced >> reporter: the focus in ow on two senaten two senate runoffs set for early january that will decide control of the u.s. senate. republican kelly loeffler in a debate last night refused to accept that president trump had lost the state. >> president trump has every right to use every legal recourse available. >> o'donnell: and paula reid joins us from the white house. paula, i want to ask you about the vaccine portion of this. because there are some reports out there that the white house could have purchased more doses of vaccine but didn't. what do we know? >> reporter: that is right, norah. "the new york times" is reporting that over the summer pfizer offered the trump administration additional doses of the vaccine, but the government declined. and now, reportedly, pfizer

cannot provide those to the u.s. because they've already been allocated to other countries. now the white house is pushing back on this report. pfizer tells cbs news it cannot comment on confidential negotiations. tomorrow president trump is expected to hold a summit to promote the vaccine, but pfizer is not expected to attend and neither is moderna. norah? >> o'donnell: interesting development, paula reid, thank you. covid and kids.ovid and kids. today new york city reopened some schools for in-person learning. learning. there is growing concern that remote learning is not making the grade, as a shocking number of children fall behind. we get more now from cbs' janet shamlian. >> reporter: 8th grader tiago williams takes all his classes online now. he has gone from an a average to barely passing a few of them. >> it's kind of hard to pay attention during class when you have to be like in front of a most the entireost the entire day. >> reporter: the 13-year-old is part of a troubling trend: remote learners struggling across the country.

it is happening in florida's miami dade with a number of high schoolers getting an f has more than doubled. tiago's district in houston says 42% of students failed at least one class this fall. a normal year is about 11%. so, how hard is this to watch, as a parent, you know, to see this slide? >> oh, it is very difficult. because i know he is capable of more. and i know under the right circumstances he would be fine. >> reporter: the educational slide, experts say, impacting minority, low income and rural children profoundly-- widening gaps that existed before the pandemic. >> we worry that there could be widening inequalities that we are not seeing yet with the data, whether that is technology limitations or they've fully disengaged from school >> reporter: for coretta fontano it is heartbreaking. >> you know, it is a challenge, >> you know, it is a challenge, it is a battle every day. >> reporter: the failure rate of her 160 high school english students is skyrocketing. >> last year they may have had

maybe four or five kids, per class failing. this year it was probably almost half. al reporter: another calamity of the pandemic, as remote learning misses the mark. janet shamlian, cbs news, houston. >> o'donnell: the risk of a lost generation of students. all right, there is still much more news ahead on tonight's cbs evening news. a nor'easter buries new england and knocks out power across the region. and a music mega-deal, millions of dollars are blowing in the wind towards bob dylan's bank account. ♪ the answer my friend is blowing in the wind ♪ is blowing in the wind ♪ my friend is bloa bloing in the wind. woo vicks vapocool drops now in honey lemon chill diabetes and raised triglycerides,...

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thought surgery was my only option. but then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. it was a total game changer. learn more about the condition at factsonhand.com >> o'donnell: tonight many people are without power after a nor'easter blew through new england. parts of maine, massachusetts and new hampshire got more than a foot of snow and it is still snowing in some places. tonight bob dylan is tangled up in green. dylan has sold the rights to his catalog to universal music. the deal is estimated to be worth more than $300 million. all right, coming up next, "time's" first kid of the year, she's accomplished more in just 15 years than most people do in a lifetime.

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right now at seven. day one of the new shutdown, the governor laying out a new weapon to stop a growing surge but will everyone use it? a lot of people are concerned about the privacy, and the data. all this money would be due immediately and it could be catastrophic. time is running out to keep eviction protections alive for thousands of bay area renters. gusty wind out there this morning and because of the very dry fire fuels, the fire danger was hot but now the wind is calming down and we take a look at how the fire weather index will improve, coming up in the were cast. for the second time in weeks another bay area police officer has just been charged in a high-profile use of force case. >> this is not about sending a message, this is about enforcing the law eq