Page 18 - Consoler News Today

Under 18 are fully vaccinated at this point, and while we know, you know, covid is less severe in our kids, we also know that its had a real impact in our kids across severe illness and death. >> reporter: 170,000 children testing positive for covid last week alone, an increase of nearly 28% in just two weeks. and its the unvaccinated, health experts say, are still most at risk. in ohio, 18-year-old sarah golembiewski lost both of her parents and her aunt to covid just days apart and a few weeks...

Surrounding the people. and, kaitlan, talk to us a little bit more just about, i guess, what this moment means given where the president is in his presidency and how the american people feel about the job hes doing. >> reporter: yeah. of course, this comes as were in a moment where hes coming up on one year in office, and often presidents are judged by the events that happen and how they handle them. sometimes storms like this one and natural disasters can really define a presidency. we have cer...

Will expect to hear more extended remarks. but katy, some of the dribs and grabs and offhand comments from the president so far, he says the thing thats struck him the most is the way these communities are coming together. as he put it, there is no blue tornado, red tornado. these natural disasters are indiscriminate, affecting everyone equally. thats why its important to have that partnership youre seeing from the local level all the way up to the president of the united states who is traveling...

One. you can see the president there on the tarmac. the president there to focus on the tornado devastation in kentucky. again, just touching down ahead of his tour of storm damage in mayfield. and dawson springs. that is where well start this hour on the ground with our reporters in kentucky. ahead of president bidens visit, nbcs mike memoli is in dawson springs. nbcs gabe gutierrez is in mayfield. president biden touring storm damage in kentucky, taking on this role as consoler and chief. what...

This moment. as the white house said, to demonstrate well be here for as long as it takes until everyone here gets the response that they need from the government. now as we expect to see the president here shortly, hell be with the governor of kentucky andy bashear, also with steven bashear, the governor of kentucky a decade ago. this town, dawson springs was the home town of steven bashear so that will give him an extra layer of the personal impact of what the town is dealing with. and well he...

To you. it hits you and sometimes youre not even wearing tennis shoes, youre not prepared for this. we were reading one story a woman was just wrapping gifts in the living room, didnt think it was going to get that bad. of course, next thing they know the bathtub they were hiding in was outside and they were being rained on. i think the president was trying to talk about that on saturday, of just how overwhelmed and rattled people can be after going through something like this, which is complete...

House responding, and figuring out how to deal with all of these multiple challenges? >> well, if you just take the tornados, this is very sort of natural way, any traditional way to respond, but especially someone like president biden who is sort of so empathetic, and so sort of what we think of as a consoler in chief in these moments, so i was with him on saturday in wilmington when he made, you know, unscheduled remarks to talk about it. and it came through there, he really believes this is n...

In this moment, how is the white house responding, and figuring out how to deal with all of these multiple challenges? >> if you just take the tornadoes, this is very natural, the way in a traditional white house response, but especially someone like president biden who is so empathetic and so such as consoler in chief at these moments so i was with him on saturday in wilmington when they made unscheduled remarks, to talk about it. it came through there that he really believes this is not about ...

Heartfelt emotional remarks about it, reflecting on the tragedies he has faced so far in office as president, as we expect him to really adopt once again this consoler in chief role as he responds to this disaster. take a listen. >> my heart aches for those people right now, including the rescuers, including the burden on them and what they worry about. thats what they talk to me about in florida. thats what they talked to me about afterwards. so, i just think that we just have to keep at it. we...

Were all americans. we stand together as the united states of america. i promise you, whatever is needed, whatever is needed, the federal government is going to find a way to supply it. >> reporter: so the president really in the crisis manager moded at the moment, but he did talk about skl at some point mo into an investigative set of standards, looking at whether there was enough warning for these people, looking at whether climate change may have affected this, and then, of course, he will mo...