as gabe mentioned, you know, most americans have been dealing with the coronavirus since march. so far too many people have actually been unemployed since march. we know that eviction notices have come at the end of the summer. and the desperate there, especially as so many children are home and parents are, you know, not only watching them, but also feeding them throughout the day. the democrats obviously want a deal. this is what we've seen time and time again. republicans give tax breaks to their friends and to the wealthy. they want to shrink the government. democrats come in, they have to expand the size of the government. they have to rebuild the social safety net to actually take care of hundreds of millions of americans, who have had benefits and jobs taken away from them. the issue that the president face that is he consistently talks about the economy. that was his main priority in february and march. and the economy is actually not the same thing as the pocketbook issues that americans face. so when they go to the polls, these past few weeks, but also on november 3rd,

it's like we won >> all right gabe joins us now. you have been covering the pandemic for months what struck you today? >> reporter: lester, reminded me a bit of what we saw in new york months ago. the health care workers we spoke with today said they're frustrated more people haven't been wearing mask they wish at least some of this could have been prevented. lester >> seems like there's no end to the suffering in all this. gabe, thank you. >>> as the country is consumed by a new wave in the pandemic, there is rising concern of a shortage of medical gloves now that's crucial for keeping health care workers and patients safe stephanie gosk has our nbc news investigation. >> reporter: 10:30 sunday night in coral gables florida. a million-dollar heist is under way the cargo, surgical gloves shipped from malaysia critical for health care workers fighting covid and there are fears of a looming shortage across the country. in south dakota where the virus is surging, gloves are now five times more expensive. >> are there places where we ca

that's where we find gabe gutierrez. because it has been up in the upper rocky mountains, the upper midwest that has been hit the hardest, the dakotas, wisconsin, minnesota, and, yes, montana. and billings is like a lot of these larger cities that are surrounded by a lot of rural counties where they get the patient ares from maybe 400 or 500 square mile vicinity, not just from the city of billings. what are you seeing there with the virus, gabe? >> hey there, chuck. you hit it exactly on the head. this hospital -- it's packed at this point. they have three covid icus here. and this is a city of more than 100,000 people. but, yes, it brings in these critical patients from rural areas around the state in montana. montana yesterday reported its second highest daily covid cases since the pandemic began. doctors and nurses we spoke with here, chuck, they're frustrated that more people haven't been wearing masks. one of the doctors we spoke with, chuck, she actually came out of retirement earlier this year, went to new york to

gabe, thank you. thanks for that. that is going to do it for me today and this week. enjoy your weekend. dr. anthony fauci will join my colleague chuck todd on "meet the press daily" today at 1:00 eastern right here on msnbc. dr. fauci with chuck at 1:00. but coming up next, "andrea mitchell reports." it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. in mass incarceration of black and brown communities. the shame is on all of us. i'm working to right the wrongs of injustice. ending cash bail. ending the war on drugs. decriminalizing sex work, and passing major sentencing reform legislation. but until we reimagine community safety and end police brutality, we must keep working to reform

nbc news reporter gabe gutierrez has been in montana for the last couple of days. he and his team got permission from the families of two patients being treated at saint vincent's hospital in billings, montana, in intensive care. their families gave permission for gabe and his team to see them and to talk to their doctors and nurses, and this is -- this is distressing, i will tell you. this is a little bit difficult to watch, but i absolutely believe that you should see this. >> how serious are patients like this? >> very serious. you see -- you sigh him no longer on a ventilator, but he's still receiving high-flow oxygen right now. he is weakened in more than one way. being in a hospital bed for even 24, 48 hours, you start weakening. he was receiving a lot of sedation before. he is still not fully waking up from that, so his brain is not where it normally is yet. >> but he's improving, or it's hard to tell? >> he is off the ventilator. he's improved. but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods yet. he is still very critical. and as you can see, the nurse is tryin

gabe gutierrez in the hard-hit city of green bay. gabe >> reporter: shep, doctors here say the situation is getting increasingly dire and outside lambeau field where the green bay packers announced they will no longer allow fans until further notice here at this iconic stadium, but the real story is the dramatic increase in covid cases and hospitalizations we saw video today from inside one of the local hospitals here, st. mary's where doctors and nurses are battling this crisis. about a month ago there were some 800 or so covid cases daily in wisconsin now that number is above 2300 and as you mentioned, shep, today the governor announced that he was activating a field hospital at the state fairgrounds near milwaukee we spoke with one of the doctors at the center of this crisis today. this is the picture he painted >> the situation in wisconsin the best way i can describe it is awful from the number of patients turning positive every day compared to the number we're testing to what's actually happening inside of our hospitals. we're

i want to gabe at a hospital near milwaukee. gabe, local officials are calling the situation basically a five alarm fire. tell us what you've been seeing. >> reporter: yeah. right behind me is the 530 bed emergency field hospital that opened last week. thankfully it's not -- doesn't have any patients just yet, but the fear is that it will start to fill up with patients as more and more co-vid cases are seen at the hospitals throughout this state. now, for weeks doctors here have been sounding the alarm saying the situation is growing more dire. you see the latest numbers from that chart of co-vid cases here in wisconsin. steadily rising over the past few weeks and on friday the state saw its most co-vid cases yet. over the weekend the president held a rally here. but as we speak a court hearing is scheduled in wisconsin regarding the governor's -- some of the governor's restrictions that bars and restaurants and businesses be at 25% capacity. the state is facing a lawsuit over that, and it's heading to court. what we've been see

and that's where gabe gutierrez is standing by this morning in indianapolis. what's going on where you are? >> hey there stephanie. i'm having a bit of a hard time hearing you, but i can tell you the situation here on the ground in minnesota, the governor here is warning that this state is reaching a critical point. hospitalizations are up 70% over the last month and throughout the midwest as you mentioned, stephanie, things are increasing significantly. yesterday we were in the dakotas. and the dakotas actually lead the nation per capita in cases right now. now here in minnesota, we have been hearing from hospitals, including this one and say they are trying to make -- trying to make plans for the coming winter months as, you know, the winter and colder temperatures drive people indoors where the virus spreads more easily. now here in minnesota, they've also noticed that over the last few months, community spread has been increasing. for example, in weddings. about 70 wedding-related outbreaks have been reported. and local public officials here are urging peo

. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez is in el paso, texas. el paso is a city seeing the surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations as well. gabe, what's the situation there like right now? >> craig, picking up on that point, el paso seeing about a 300% surge in hospitalization in recent days. university medical center, where we're at right now, we're overlooking these tents that have been constructed right outside the hospital. craig, this is something they put up several days ago, nearly 200 or so covid patients right now. in each tent they have a capacity for 12 or 15. the county judge is calling this a crisis situation in el paso. some of the more serious patients are being airlifted to other cities throughout texas. traveling nurses are coming here to el paso to help with staffing issues as well. we also spoke with a doctor who runs a local clinic here that deals with lower income patients and migrants as well. he says he's seeing about 200 patients a day. about half of them are testing positive for covid-19. take a listen to what he

gabe gutierrez and carla draxler are with us. gabe, the governor in minnesota says the state is at a critical point. explain that. >> yeah. here in minnesota the governor does say that, and he says it because hospitalizations in the state are up 70 % over the last month. now, hospitals like this one are busier. they have been for several weeks. and really throughout the upper midwest the last several days we've been seeing this rise in cases. the dakotas where we were at yesterday, they lead the nation in per capita new co-vid cases. in wisconsin late last week, we were at an icu that was seeing an increased case load. here in the midwest while the cases are rising dramatically, the bigger concern is what will happen over the coming months, and as they see new cases and as the winter months come here, more people go indoors where the virus spreads more easily, there's concern that some of the hospitals can and will be overwhelmed. now, here in minneapolis we're not at that stage just yet. but still, hospitals are preparing. they'

it's like we won. >> gabe gutierrez joins me now. gabe, just extraordinary reporting that you did first for "nightly news" last night, we really appreciated that insight. how is joey doing, how are the doctors doing? >> reporter: you know, andrea, he got a lot of response after that piece first aired last night, people from around the country calling him a hero. he's grateful for that. a lot of the health care workers we spoke with, not just here but across the country, there is a sense of exhaustion. they've been dealing with this for months. some areas, like billings, montana, have seen a dramatic rise in the last couple of weeks. montana recorded its second highest number of covid cases since wednesday. these health care workers are thankful they're being heard and the hospital granted us access to show the impact in communities across the country. >> gabe, you were in el paso yesterday, now billings. thank you for everything you're doing to bring it to the american people. it's very important. we appreciate it. >>> private negoti

nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: new options for holiday travel may be taking off. the u.s. now in talks with airlines and foreign governments about ways to jump-start travel between the u.s. and europe and exploring rapid testing on domestic travel corridors between cities as a way to shorten routes like from u.s. to london potential changes could come as soon as the holidaying now just two months away. this as airlines fight to survive and tens of thousands of u.s. airline workers remain furloughed the industry dell december pratt for a boost is adding new routes to entire travelers while em fa sizing cleaning and safety protocols. united, jetblue, and hawaiian airlines are offers testing. and some are offering tests right in the terminal. 39% say they plan to travel during the holiday season. 21% say they usually would but won't this year. the cdc still warns the chances of traveling and getting and transferring the virus increases. book by togetherget the best deals. domestic air travel for thanksgiving and chris is expected to be 40% cheaper. >> you're not goin

louisville officers in her own home during a bungled raid, but no one was charged in her death our gabe gutierrez tells us more. >> reporter: tonight in a rare rebuke an anonymous grand juror in the breonna taylor case now says questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick adding the jury never considered homicide charges because they were not given the option the 26-year-old former emt was shot and killed at her apartment in march during a botched drug raid no officers were charged in her death, though one who's pleaded not guilty was accused of wanton endangerment for firing bullets that ended up in another apartment. kentucky's attorney general, daniel cameron, said the actions of the two other officers were justified because they opened fire only after taylor's boyfriend shot at them first >> the rule of law must apply >> reporter: police say they identified themselves her boyfriend insists they didn't. now the juror says the grand jury didn't agree that certain actions wer

governor said today there were more than 1,500 active cases among college students lester >> all right, gabe, thanks. >>> the pandemic has dramatically altered how we vote with ballots mailed to every voter in nine states, and absentee voting permitted for all in 34 more in tonight's vote watch, morgan radford on the challenges in battleground north carolina. >>> christopher gibson says he's voted in every election but this year in north carolina he voted by mail for the first time. >> voting is very important. i grew up in the jim crow era. >> reporter: you decided you were going to vote no matter what. >> i would have gone. >> reporter: his mail-in ballot was rejected he was missing a witness signature. in north carolina more than a million ballot have requested mail-in ballots this year but the rate of rejection for mail-in ballots, those sent back because of inconsistencies is four times higher for black voters than white ones. >> we still seem to be fighting to vote, in 2020 >> reporter: here are some of the issues that county officials in election offices like this one are seeing, for

. >>> this is gabe gutierrez in madison, wisconsin, where the covid units at university hospital keep growing. >> i'm very scared if this doesn't stop soon we're going to end up with a much bigger problem. >> reporter: dr. katie cavinski started working here this summer it's much busier now how much worse do you think this could get >> i think unfortunately it could get really, really terrible it's devastating it's terrifying to see someone struggling to breathe. you can see the fear in their eyes. you can see how scared they are. >> reporter: this covid unit has 28 beds it reached that capacity not long ago and now down to 20 patients and this hospital is making plans for this winter as flu season takes hold this is one of the hospital's three covid units. it was once just one hallway. now it's four. >> people are staying in here who are very sick >> reporter: nurse katie lenoway knows the hardest part. >> they're lonely and dealing with this alone and it's becoming increasingl harder for us to try to manage an playing the different roles, playing the nurse, playing the support perso

with more on that here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: at st. mary's hospital in green bay doctors ar sounding the alarm. >> the situation in wisconsin best way to describe it is awful >> reporter: this doctor along with more than 200 other health professionals just sent this letter t local politicians urging them to discourage reckless disregard of basic public health measures a month ag wisconsin was seeing 800 daily cases of covid-19 now it is more than 2,300. over the last two weeks cases have risen in 32 states. >> i would say every hospital is one bed away from being over capacity, some are actually over it already. >> reporter: among the lives lost, heidi, a teacher who planned to hold class via zoom even after her covid diagnosis. she died five days later. >> when i think of her i just think of purely kind to the soul i think of somebody who is so kind in every sense of the word. >> reporter: today wisconsin's governor announced the opening of a 530-bed field hospital at the state fairgrounds and tomorrow a new statewide order limits cro

. >>> with early voting still in progress in many places and election day around the corner, gabe gutierrez reports on how to stay safe casting your ballot. >> reporter: these aren't lines for covid testing. it's politics during a pandemic. >> it's very secure. >> reporter: sheryl mcaffey was among the first to vote early in battleground wisconsin. she got covid earlier this year. her brother died from it. >> nothing was going to stop me i'm here for me and my brother. >> reporter: as we head into the final stretch many others are still questioning whether going to crowded polling places is safe. the cdc offers some guidelines before. you vote plan do go to the polling place during off-peak hours such as mid-morning. and fill out a sample ballot first at home so you spend less time here while you vote, of course, wear a mask, make sure your polling place is well ventilated bring your own pen or stylus for touch screens. don't try to disinfect a voting machine yourself some cleaning products can damage them. how big of a concern is the pandemic for you right now? >> big concern because i hav

governor said today there were more than 1,500 active cases among college students lester >> all right, gabe, thanks. >>> the pandemic has dramatically altered how we vote with ballots mailed to every voter in nine states, and absentee voting permitted for all in 34 more in tonight's vote watch, morgan radford on the challenges in battleground north carolina. >> reporter: christopher gibson says he's voted in every election but this year in north carolina he voted by mail for the first time. >> voting is very important. i grew up in the jim crow era. >> reporter: you decided you were going to vote no matter what. >> if i had to crawl, i would have gone. >> reporter: his mail-in ballot was rejected he was missing a witness signature. in north carolina more than a million people have requested mail-in ballots this year but the rate of rejection for mail-in ballots, those sent back because of inconsistencies is four times higher for black voters than white ones. >> we still seem to be fighting to vote, in 2020 >> reporter: here are some of the issues that county officials in election offices li

gabe gutierrez, nbc news. >>> in just 60 seconds, a launch of a holiday shopping season like no other how black friday may look a lot different this year. when to get the best deals coming up. >>> just hours left to score amazon prime day deals and this year it's giving us a preview of how the pandemic is reshaping the holiday shopping season vicki nguyen on what it means for black friday. >> reporter: the pandemic pushed amazon proctober launching the holiday shopping season now coronavirus is poised to change one of the biggest shopping days of the year, black friday with covid surging and social distancing in stores, retailers are bracing for more online shopping, shipping and earlier sales. >> we have so many sales popping up so consumers have to be really organized. >> reporter: walmart announced it's holding three black friday sales starting in early november target and best buy also promising multiple black friday deals throughout the month. with covid-related economic struggles some research shows deals are more important than ever. 39% of americans say they plan to cut back o

gabe gutierrez is in a growing hotspot. >> reporter: today the parking lot of a major league ballpark transformed into wisconsin's newest drive-through testing site the cars started lining up here more than an hour before this testing siie opened on friday, wisconsin saw a record number of covid cases. more than 3,800. what are your symptoms >> i've had a pesky cough since saturday, fatigue. >> reporter: we spoke with teacher stacy isaacson from a safe distance >> we all want to get back to work and have life as normal as possible specifically as an educator we want our kids to be in the classroom learning and not be subject to long delays and gaps in their learning. >> reporter: hospitalizations in wisconsin have tripled over the last month, about 85% of the state's beds are full. >> this is serious you know this ain't no joke it's killing people. all you got to do is look at the numbers. >> reporter: covid hospitalizations at their peaks in at least 16 states including north dakota and new mexico where they have spiked more than 100% in 2 weeks health care workers have noticed a dra

gabe gutierrez is in a growing hotspot. >> reporter: today the parking lot of a major league ballpark transformed into wisconsin's newest drive-through testing site the cars started lining up here more than an hour before this testing site opened on friday, wisconsin saw a record number of covid cases. more than 3,800. what are your symptoms >> i've had a pesky cough since saturday, fatigue. >> reporter: we spoke with teacher stacy isaacson from a distance >> we all want to get back to work and have life as normal as possible specifically as an educator we want our kids to be in the classroom learning and not be subject to long delays and gaps in their learning. >> reporter: hospitalizations in wisconsin have tripled over the last month, about 85% of the state's beds are full. >> this is serious you know this ain't no joke it's killing people. all you got to do is look at the numbers. >> reporter: covid hospitalizations at their peak in at least 16 states including north dakota and new mexico where they have spiked more than 100% in 2 weeks health care workers have noticed a dramatic

lester >> all right gabe, thank you. >>> a curfew in effect tonight in philadelphia as police struggle to contain violence and looting after the deadly police shooting of a black man, walter wallace jr ron allen is there for us. >> reporter: for the second straight night violence and mayhem on the streets of a major american city. at one point, police say as many as 1,000 looters rampaging through a business district traffic jams in big box store parking lots caused by people loading up the cars. overnight police warning about on third of the city's residents to stay inside for their own safety. >> let me be perfectly clear. this behavior is not acceptable. >> reporter: more than 170 arrests, at least 50 officers injured. police and fire vehicles even atms set ablaze in the neighborhood where walter wallace armed with a knife was shot and killed by police hundreds of protesters in a standoff with police wallace's family who say he was suffering from mental illness, appealing for calm >> i don't condone no violence tearing up the city. looting the stores and all this chaos. >> reporter:

it's like we won >> all right gabe joins us now. you have been covering the pandemic for months what struck you today? >> reporter: lester, reminded me a bit of what we saw in new york months ago. the health care workers we spoke with today said they're frustrated more people haven't been wearing mask they wish at least some of this could have been prevented. lester >> seems like there's no end to the suffering in all this. thank you. >>> as the country is consumed by a new wave in the pandemic, there is rising concern of a shortage of medical gloves now that's crucial for keeping health care workers and patients safe stephanie gosk has our nbc news investigation. >> reporter: 10:30 sunday night in coral gables florida. a million-dollar heist is under way the cargo, surgical gloves shipped from malaysia critical for health care workers fighting covid and there are fears of a looming shortage across the country. in south dakota where the virus is surging, gloves are now five times more expensive. >> are there places where we can see

our gabe gutierrez has the latest. >> we have a massive fire just north of i-10 and 99. >> reporter: the three-alarm inferno lit up the sky near houston just before dawn >> [ bleep ] crazy. >> reporter: a $30 million apartment complex under construction up in flames. >> never seen a fire like this before. >> reporter: residents in a neighboring complex owned by the same company say they could feel the scorching heat >> you can feel the heat. >> reporter: firefighters had trouble finding water pressure. >> some of the debris that was coming off of the roof in the smoke was coming down and starting little pockets of grass fires. >> reporter: one firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion, no one else was injured. >> if you're standing in front of my window in the house, yes, i fell the heat. the heat from the building is tracking the -- some of the windows. >> reporter: the fire is out as investigators search for what sparked it gabe gutierrez, nbc news >>> new mandatory evacuations are in effect in colorado. the cameron peak fire is threatening homes northwest of denver its burned mo

gabe gutierrez, nbc news. >>> in just 60 seconds, a launch of a holiday shopping season like no other how black friday may look a lot different this year. when to get the best deals coming up. >>> just hours left to score amazon prime day deals and this year it's giving us a preview of how the pandemic is reshaping the holiday shopping season vicki nguyen on what it means for black friday. >> reporter: the pandemic pushed amazon prime day from july to october launching the holiday shopping season now coronavirus is poised to change one of the biggest shopping days of the year, black friday with covid surging as social distancing in stores, retailers are bracing for more online shopping, shipping and earlier sales. >> we have so many sales popping up so consumers have to be really organized. >> reporter: walmart announced it's holding three black friday sales starting in early november target and best buy also promising multiple black friday deals throughout the month. with covid-related economic struggles some research shows deals are more important than ever. 39% of americans say the

louisville officers in her own home during a bungled raid, but no one was charged in her death our gabe gutierrez tells us more. >> reporter: tonight in a rare rebuke an anonymous grand juror in the breonna taylor case now says questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick adding the jury never considered homicide charges because they were not given the option the 26-year-old former emt was shot and killed at her apartment in march during a botched drug raid no officers were charged in her death, charged in her death, though one who's pleaded not guilty was accused of wanton endangerment for firing bullets that ended up in another apartment. kentucky's attorney general, daniel cameron, said the actions of the two other officers were justified because they opened fire only after taylor's boyfriend shot at them first >> the rule of law must apply >> reporter: police say they identified themselves her boyfriend insists they didn't. now the juror says the grand jury didn't agree th

. >>> this is gabe gutierrez in madison, wisconsin, where the covid units at university hospital keep growing. >> i'm very scared if this doesn't stop soon we're going to end up with a much bigger problem. >> reporter: dr. katie cavinski started working here this summer it's much busier now how much worse do you think this could get >> i think unfortunately it could get really, really terrible it's devastating. it's terrifying to see someone struggling to breathe. you can see the fear in their eyes. you can see how scared they are. >> reporter: this covid unit has 28 beds it reached that capacity not long ago and now down to 20 patients and this hospital is making plans for this winter as flu season takes hold this is one of the hospital's three covid units. it was once just one hallway. now it's four. >> people are staying in here who are very sick >> reporter: nurse katie lenoway knows the hardest part. >> they're lonely and harder for us to manage and playing the different roles, playing the nurse, playing the support person it is very difficult. >> reporter: tonight just across to

>> gabe, thank you. >>> a researchers from harvard is revealing the staggering impact of covid-19 they found the pandemic has cost about 2.5 million years of life here in the united states. meanwhile hospitalizations are also on the rise again in north dakota, just over a dozen icu beds were still available in the entire state yesterday. and new studies out of nyu found that the chance of a patient dying of covid has dropped down to 8%. >>> mental health issues are also climbing. experts report the number of people suffering from anxiety and depression hit an all-time high in september. here's nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: from the sound of sirens to the distressing headlines. >> as covid-19 rises in 389 states. >> reporter: the coronavirus now taking a toll on america's mental health. >> anxiety and depression was always something that was other people's issue and then it became really ill. >> reporter: 26-year-old nicholas clark lost his job as a bar manager and is trying not to lose hope. >> when you start getting those dark spots, it's hard to want to get out of bed some days.

he spoke to gabe gutierrez. >> anybody in there? >> reporter: the wrecked car near davis, california, was up in flames and the responding officer knew every second counted. >> where you at? >> reporter: bystanders point him to a woman trapped inside. >> get out right now! >> reporter: but she is disoriented so he takes action. as amazing as the body camera video is, what may be even remarkable is what police corporal lee did next. >> you didn't tell anybody about this? >> correct. >> reporter: no one knew until the supervisor asked to see the video the next day. >> to me, what i did was not heroic. it was just a part of what every cop is supposed to do. so after i left the scene, i continued my shift, and i didn't say anything about it to anybody. >> reporter: he's been a cop for more than 20 years, never had a rescue like this one, though. the woman was later charged with dui but she survived thanks to him. >> i quickly realized that she was not going to come out on her own volition or physical strength so that's when i decided to

reporter: today illinois reported its highest daily covid death toll since mid-june lester >> all right gabe, thanks >>> breaking tonight, after years of court battles, the justice department announced a $8 billion settlement with purdue pharma, maker of oxycontin, which is blamed for fueling the opioid crisis here's kate snow. >> reporter: the $8 billion settlement, the most dramatic effort yet by the federal government to hold a drugmaker accountable for the more than 450,000 american deaths from opioid addiction >> our criminal investigation in this case revealed that purdue placed profits over public safety. >> reporter: the company says it deeply regrets and accepts responsibility pleading guilty to three felonies, admits it did not sto oxycontin from being diverted from pharmacies and doctors and that it paid doctors to write more prescriptions. the company agrees to be restructured with future profits on oxycontin paying for addiction treatment and prevention in a statement today, the sackler family who created purdue said members who served on purdue's board acted ethically and lawfu

reporter: today illinois reported its highest daily covid death toll since mid-june lester >> all right gabe, thanks >>> breaking tonight, after years of court battles, the justice department announced a $8 billion settlement with pure due pharma, maker of oxycontin which is blamed for fueling the opinion identify crisis. here's kate snow. >> reporter: the $8 billion settlement, the most dramatic effort yet by the federal government to hold a drugmaker accountable for the more than 450,000 american deaths from opioid addiction >> our criminal investigation in this case revealed that purdue placed profits over public safety. >> reporter: the company says it deeply regrets and accepts responsibility pleading guilty to three felonies, admits it did not sto oxycontin from being diverted from pharmacies and doctors and that it paid doctors to write more prescriptions. the company agrees to be restructured with future profits on oxycontin paying for addiction treatment and prevention in a statement today, the sackler family who created purdue said members who served on the purdue board acted ethic

with more on that here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: at st. mary's hospital in green bay doctors are sounding the alarm. >> the situation in wisconsin best way to describe it is awful. >> reporter: this doctor along with more than 200 other health officials sent a letter to local politicians urging them to discourage reckless disregard of basic public health measures. a month ago wisconsin was seeing 800 daily cases of covid-19. now it is more than 2,300. over the last two weeks cases have risen in 32 states. >> i would say every hospital is one bed away from being over capacity, some are already over it already. >> reporter: among the lives lost, heidi, a teacher who planned to hold class via zoom even after her covid diagnosis. she died five days later. >> when i think of her i just think of purely kind to the soul. i think of somebody who is so kind and every sense of the word. >> reporter: today wisconsin's governor announced the opening of a 530-bed field hospital at the state fairgrounds and tomorrow a new statewide order limits crowds i

in south dakota covid hospitalizations hit a record for the second straight day lester >> all right gabe gutierrez, thank you. >>> our "across america" journey starts in a city that stood the most vulnerable where the covid shutdowns began. the life blood of las vegas, abruptly up ended by the virus tonight we hear from business owner who is hope the path of recovery starts in the voting boothcrowds have return to the iconic ve crowds have returned to the iconic vegas strip but in other parts of sin city, it's a different story. perhaps no battleground state is still reeling from the covid shutdown like nevada with a 12.6% unemployment rate, the second worst in the country. and so it's where my journey begins talking to people here about jobs, about the economy, who they think is best positioned to lead us in a path to recovery. my first stop, failing business we meet myrna donato at the used bookstore she's owned for nearly 40 years so you're calling it quits? >> i'm calling it quits. our wonderful governor shut us down for two months and a small business canno survive with being shut d

gabe, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the dakotas now lead the nation in covid cases per capita. as you see, colder temperatures have arrived. public health officials now worry that will cause more people to gather indoors where the virus spreads more easily. this morning, the covid crisis after shattering its single day record of new infections is now in its third wave nationally. and it is ravaging many smaller communities for the first time. >> i think there is an increasingly high level of fatigue, gabe, especially in the rural parts of the country, because we were told back in may and june how bad it was going to be. and it never came. now it's here. >> reporter: in south dakota, the mayor of sioux falls is pleading with residents to wear masks, but the governor says it should be a choice. tweeting if folks want to wear a mask, they're free to do so. those who don't want to wear a mask shouldn't be shamed into it. still, covid cases in 43 states and d.c. are up at least 10% in the last two weeks, including record num

in south dakota covid hospitalizations hit a record for the second straight day lester >> all right gabe gutierrez, thank you. >>> our "across america" journey begins in a city tha stood among the most vulnerable where the covid shutdowns began. the life blood of las vegas, its hospitality and entertainment industries abruptly up ended by the virus tonight we hear from workers and business owners who hope thry path to recovery starts in the voting booth crowds have returned to the iconic vegas strip but in other parts of sin city, it's a different story. perhaps no battleground state is still reeling from the covid shutdown like nevada with a 12.6% unemployment rate, the second worst in the country. and so it's where my journey begins talking to people here about jobs, about the economy, who they think is best positioned to lead us in a path to recovery. my first stop, failing business we meet myrna donato at the used bookstore she's owned for nearly 40 years so you're calling it quits? >> i'm calling it quits. our wonderful governor shut us down for two months and a small business canno

gabe, what's the latest on the ground in milwaukee? >> reporter: it's a story of long lines, both for early voting and also for covid testing. the line behind me is not at a polling place, but actually outside a drive-through testing site that opened yesterday. it doesn't open for another 45 minutes or so here. you can see there's a long line of cars that steps all the way down the street, very similar to what we saw yesterday. this is home of miller park, home of the milwaukee brewers. you see that tent behind me. this drive-through testing site will be open into the evening. we expect hundreds, if not more than 1,000 people to be tested here. craig, as you mentioned, it's an increasingly dire situation here in wisconsin which is seeing about 3,800 new covid cases each day. as you mentioned, more than 80, 85% or so of the hospital beds in the state of wisconsin are filled. yesterday a court upheld the governor's order restricting capacity at indoor bars and restaurants to 25% following a lawsuit here. craig, very controversial here in

i want to bring in gabe gutierr gutierrez. what kind of precautions are in place in chicago. what might be coming down the pike? >> reporter: well, this testing site opened a short time ago. already a huge line of cars here. illinois has added another 5 states to the emergency travel order. that means now residents here that travel to 31 other states now are supposed to quarantine for two weeks when they come back. you see this huge line of cars. the governor here also says that parts of the states and suburban areas in the chicago area might get tighter business restrictions by tend of the week. i'm joined by kevin jax, a representative for hr support, the organization that runs this testing site. and you have been seeing increased demand over the last several days. how busy is it compared to a few weeks ago. >> we have seen an increase of 65% in our testing compared to september. at this specific and then we've also seen a 50% increase around a 50% increase in all of our other sites. >> at one point you were dealing with 600 tests or so a day. now how many are you seeing? >

nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez joins us from el paso. gabe, what's being done to handle the surge? >> reporter: hi there, andrea. yes, as you mentioned, hospitalizations are up dramatically in el paso. behind me, you can see one of the mobile medical tents, several of them, actually, set up here at the university medical center of el paso. 12 or 15 patients per tent. right now at this hospital there are nearly 200 covid patients, some of them critically ill and airlifted to other parts of the state. they're also dealing with staffing issues here, and in many other hospitals, not just in texas but across the country, they're bringing in travel nurses from across the state. here in el paso local officials have imposed a nightly curfew to try and stop the spread of the virus. take a listen to the chief medical officer from another medical center here in the region. take a listen. >> just two weeks ago, we were having public discourse around 500 cases a day, 700 cases a day, 800. last week we broke the record three times, a thousand, 1,200,

>> gabe, thank you so much for sharing that important story. we need to understand what's happening on the ground. >>> joining us, former cdc director tom frieden, one of my favorite experts. tom, a record 90,000 cases in one day. that's huge. what could that translate to in terms of hospitalizations and deaths in a week or two? >> well, think of it very straightforward. actually that's only about 1 out of every 5 patients who get infected. we're only diagnosing about 1 out of 5 infections. that means that there's a diagnosed case every second, five actual cases every second means that more than one death per minute in the coming weeks. we'll see a decrease in cases over the weekend. that always happens because of less testing, but we're on the upswing. unfortunately, the harvest of months of failure is going to be weeks and weeks of much harder days and nights fighting covid. >> president trump said deaths are going way down. they're going away. people aren't dying anymore. >> deaths are increasing. they lag cases by a few weeks. it takes a we

gabe gutierrez joins us with more on that gabe, good morning. >> reporter: willie, good morning. nearly 40% of americans say they plan to travel this holiday season for many half of them it will be the first time doing so since the pandemic started as the airline industry fights for its life, it's also battling questions about safety this morning, new options for holiday travel may be taking off. the u.s. now in talks with airlines and foreign governments about ways to jumpstart travel between the u.s. and europe, and exploring rapid testing on designated travel corridors between select cities as a way to shorten quarantines on major routes like new york to london, where u.s. travelers currently face a 14-day quarantine on arrival. potential changes that could come as soon as the holidays, now just two months away this as airlines fight to survive and tens of thousands of u.s. airline workers remain furloughed the industry desperate for a boost is adding new routes to entice travelers while emphasizing cleaning and safety protocols. carriers like united, jetblue and hawaiian air

come on, gabe. let's go gabe. so i just left california, and i was at a place that was sort of republican, but i was with a wonderful reporter, just spoke to him from the washington times, which is a really good newspaper, by the way, and he reported very strongly. the crowds were unbelievable. unbelievable. and i don't know why we wouldn't win california. we're playing it a little bit. in theory you are not supposed -- [inaudible]. but they have everything against them, high crime, homeless. they don't take care of their homeless. i tell nancy pelosi come back to san francisco and take care of your homeless, nancy. the end forest fires. they're endless. i do. i like the governor, but i said do you ever stop with these forest fires? can you ever stop? they've got to manage the forest, you know. it's all sorts of reasons. they've got to manage the forest. manage it. it is called forest management. but they've got to stop. they've got to stop. and now they have a new thing, they are running out of water. you know, t

gabe gutierrez for us at lambeau. thank you. >>> coming up next, richard engel will be with us with overnight reaction from the families of american hostages, as their alleged murderers, isis militants known as the beatles, are brought to justice here in the u.s. facing charges this morning and in custody. first, these messages. ♪ ♪ ♪ she offered you a homemade cookie. so when she said your trade in was worth 12 thousand dollars, you believed her. but was it a lie? the cookie? the offer? next time start with carmax and get a custom offer good for 7 days. the way it should be. carmax. the wlook at that be. embarrassing you. that wall is your everest. but not any more. today let's paint. behr. exclusively at the home depot. ♪ meow, meow, meow, meow. ♪ meow, meow, meow, meow. ♪ meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. ♪ still the only one cats ask for by name. now any order can be rewarding when you use the app. no matter how you pay, you'll be closer to earning rewards and getting more of your favor

gabe gutierrez there for us. thank you. >> a russian opposition leader still recovering months after he was poisoned in an assassination attempt. and this morning he is sharing more about himself experience and why he says vladimir putin was behind it. today's senior international correspondent keir simmons is joining with us the latest. hey, keir, good morning. >> hi, hoda. good morning to you. last month president donald trump said he would be very angry if it turned out that alexey naval alexey navalny had been poisoned by russian agents. but he said he had no proof. now this morning he's been speaking to "60 minutes. president putin's loudest critic is vowing to return there, despite being poisoned >> i said to the flight attendant and i shocked him with my statement that i was poisoned and i'm going to die >> reporter: alexey navalny survived, thin and gaunt in a hospital bed this picture taken soon after he came out of a coma himself wife insisted that he be taken to germany >> reporter: now navalny calling

is the intersection of politics and the pandemic early voting begins here in wisconsin tomorrow. >> gabe gutierrez on a cold night in milwaukee where are we, big picture? scott gottlieb is with us. hearing dire predictions for the weeks ahead, what is yours >> we're facing a tough circumstance right now we're going to see accelerating cases into the next four to six weeks, probably to the end of the year i think we're about two, three weeks behind europe, about a week away from starting to enter a period where we're going to see a rapid acceleration i think november and december will be tough months we have no therapeutic backstop and the fall and winter season is whether this coronavirus is going to want to spread. >> we were just live in north dakota and wisconsin, cold in both that brings people indoors thanksgiving is ahead. what are you telling families who just haven't seen each other in so long and would love ten people around the dining room table. >> when you talk to the governors, when they do their tracing and trace back to the source of the infection, over times it's family g