warning about scenes like this one. >> huge crowds, huge of spring breakers gathered on florida beaches prompting major concerns at another avoidable surge could be on the way. we'll have more on that in a moment. and the biden administration kicking off its nationwide tour to sell its $1.9 trillion economic relief plan. that is just moments away. let's begin though with our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen on the state's opening up morning eligibility for vaccines today. >> right, poppy. it is getting easier to get a covid-19 vaccine. many states are changing the eligibility requirements, widening them. take a look at a smaterring of states and see what they're doing. for example, in alaska, they're saying you just have to be over the age of 16 in order to get a vaccine. in california, they say anyone 16 plus that has certain health conditions and so on and so forth. just getting easier. so because there is more vaccine out there, the federal government and the next few weeks tells me that they -- sources tell me they'll be releasing a new ad campaign aimed in part at getting foam take the vaccine. so let's take a look at this campaign. it's $250 million. that is a lot. i'm told that can add -- that can buy a lot of ad time. the ads will be on television, radio, billboard, print and digital. there will be a podcast by a well known figure. the focus will be on wearing masks, practicing social distancing, avoiding crowds and getting the vaccine. now you might wonder, people are fighting to get the vaccine. why do we need ads? the thinking is that as the weeks go by, people who want the vaccine will be able to get it. and we'll be left with the people who don't want the vaccine that they will need convincing. and this is not a small group of people. let's take a recent look at a cnn poll done earlier this month. when you break it down by party, you look at who is not going to take the vaccine, only 7% of democrats said they won't try to get the vaccine. but a third of independents almost, a third of undependents say they will not try to get a coronavirus vaccine and almost half of republicans say that they won't try to get a vaccine. so as you can see, there is a lot of work to be done. sources i'm talking to that are close to this cam pawpaign say messages will be targeted to individual groups hoping to get the word out that the vaccine is safe and effective and really our ticket out of this mess. poppy? jim? >> it's remarkable. it's a decision that hurts your own health. right? the data is clear much keeps you out of the hospital. keeps you alive. boy, a hill to get over. thank you very much. now to the concern that packed beaches, particularly in florida, could become super spreader events. >> yeah. it is here for some of those folks. take a look at miami beach over the weekend. natasha chen, our colleague is there. what's it like being there, seeing this? are most people masked at least when they're this close? >> poppy, it's still early for the spring breakers who are likely still asleep. but later in the day when we see people walking along ocean drive, not a lot of people are wearing masks. in fact, a lot of spring breakers tell me that they are visiting here from places that not only have colder weather but perhaps tougher covid-19 restrictions. they feel more free here in florida. that is an interesting debate to see how florida faired and to see whether their approach worked f we look at statistics comparing how florida has done compared to the rest of the country, especially in comparison to, for example, california, which is taking a much stricter approach, the two states have a similar death rate and both are faring slightly lower than the u.s. average death rate of 1.8%. when you look at cases per cap tashgs florida, florida's case rate per 100,000 people is 8% higher than the national rate. still, florida ranks 16th best for low case rates out of all 50 states. in this situation, california is doing better. it has the sixth lowest case rate per 1 hu00,000 people. the states have very different populations and poverty levels and density. it is an interesting conversation especially when you consider there is some local tension from local leaders versus each state's governor. and this case in miami beach, frustration over their inability to fine anyone for not wearing a mask because the florida governor has not allowed that, there is no statewide mask mandate versus in california where certain counties are only now able to start relaxing some of the restrictions as their conditions improve. and, of course, there also some tension against their governor. poppy and jim? >> yeah. natasha, thank you for that reporting for us from miami. let's bring in dr. megan ranee, emergency physician at brown university. good morning. it's good to have you. you use the analogy of a buffalo bills fan which you are a big one. like our wolf blitzer. and i wonder as a buffalo bills fan who has seen lots of losses in the fourth quarter, what do you think when you see those images in florida? >> i think of all the games where i thought we were about to win and then lost it in the last minute of the game. you know, we know that we have not yet conquered this virus. we're doing an unbelievable job in this country of getting vaccines in arms faster than any of us had hoped. but really right now only about 10% of americans are fully vaccinated. there are these novel variants out there that are potentially more deadly and the best protection is not getting infected, so wearing a mask and maintaining distancing or getting a shot in the arm. and when we open these restrictions up so quickly, we are setting ourselves up for the virus to win. >> first of all, sorry about your bills fandom. my thoughts go out to you. >> thanks. >> on -- i'm kidding there because they're way better than my team right now. so that's the concern, right? folks are, you know, basically throwing off pandemic guidelines too early. there is interesting data from south africa that, you know, one of the sources of these new concerning variants has seen a dropoff, really dramatic dropoff in the own infection rate. i wonder what that is teaching us. are we learning anything about that? is it less communicative, this other strain? what do we know? >> jim, we still know so little. this is yet again during this the pandemic when we're trying to draw conclusions with very limited data. the south african -- the variant identified in south africa and in brazil and the uk, we had preliminary data saying it's more tran transmissable and we' able to make more precise predictions. it's not sure if the infection rate fell off because people have natural immunity or just got contained in pockets. we really don't have answers yet for that one. but that would be great news if it's true. we do know that that south african variant, the vaccines are not quite as effective against that one. while they do work really well against the b 117 variant first identified in the uk. what about to schools and the new study that suggests three feet of distance is fine between children versus the six feet that has been required? our jake tapper asked dr. anthony fauci yesterday about it. and dr. fauci said the findings do indicate to him that three feet of distance is good enough. he said, look, the cdc is looking at. this we'll be back to you soon on that. what do you think as a medical professional? >> so to me, it goes along with what we do know. the knowledge about covid-19, how does covid-19 spread? through droplets and through aerosols, through that little spray of tiny, tiny little pieces of virus that masks prevent. so this study that showed that three feet was as good as six feet, that was dwas done in sch universal masking. if you have universal masks on kids and teachers, it's okay. it's not the distance per se that matters, it's the mask and keeping from you being exposed to the aerosols. i'll add that ventilation certainly also makes a difference. to me, again, this is an argument for why masks matter and that we can get our kids back to school safely with some minimal precautions like masks and ventilation. >> so, again, talking about the good news. the rate of vaccinations is increasing. one day this weekend, in 24 hours they did 4.5 million doses. well above the previous record. close to three million. now 11.3 fully vaccinated. 20% got their first shot. do you see this accelerating, the rate of vaccination in this country and does that move up your time line for when the country might hit herd immunity? >> yes. i see it accelerating. we're going to have greater supply. our logistics are getting better. the new covid-19 relief bill included a lot of money to help rollout local vaccine centers to get fema involved. those are all really good signs. but as elizabeth cohen just talked about, there is some h hesitancy to get vaccine out f you look at vaccine distribution across the country, there are states doing much worse than others. the northeast, the west are doing better than states along the south or along the rocky mountains. and that's partly because of vaccine hesitancy. i'm hearing from folks there can you show up at a pharmacy and just get a vaccine. it's not the long waits that us on the east coast are expecting. so i think that one of our big determinants of how quickly we get vaccinated is how much we can convince folks that yes, this is safe and as you said, before this is your best bet for getting back to normal. it protects you and your family to get it. >> listen, they're gold, right? if you got the opportunity, take that opportunity. all i can say. dr. megan hanney, thank you very much. >> thank you. the biden administration is gearing up to hit the road. soon kicking off a tour across the country, the intention to sell support in its $1.9 trillion so-called american rescue plan, the stimulus package. >> let's go to john harwood. he joins us at the white house. good monday morning to you, john. good to have you. everyone, i mean all the key players from the administration are going to be all across the country. >> there may be people scratching their heads. are they against or for the plan. >> it's hard to explain and it explains itself. they are landing in people's bank accounts over the weekend. kamala harris and in nevada. and then he's going to pennsylvania and georgia later in the week. those are pivotal swing states in the past election but also in senate races next year where democrats are going to try to keep control. so what they're trying to do is explain, yes, direct stimulus checks but there is also expanded child tax credits. there is expanded health care subsidies. there is more aid to small business that's didn't qualify before. there is aid to state and local governments in order to speed vaccines and also to prevent layoffs. some of those especially local governments are down in revenue. and one thing they're going to do is name jean sperling to oversee the rollout. there is a provision in the vud relief bill to prevent state governments from simply turning around and taking this new money and cutting taxes. they want to preserve the public services, prevent layoffs. so that will be another element of the oversight that the biden administration is going to stay on top of. joe biden remembers that oversight role. that's what he did for president obama with the stimulus plan in 2009. gene sperling is going to hem him with that. >> the emerging crisis he is southern border. thousands of children are in custody now after crossing into the united states alone. we're talking about little kids, 6, 7 years old there. the we have new details on that and also why fema is now being brought in to help. plus, president biden is breaking silence on the growing scandal around new york governor andrew cuomo. this as the governor is facing new calls from democrats to resign. and women making history at the grammy awards. highlights from the music's biggest night. there is a big one just ahead. if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you. get 2 unlimited lines for a fixed rate of $70 bucks. and now get netflix on us. plus, switch and get a free smartphone for each line. mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. dad was a bus driver at the chicago transit authority. mom expressed herself through her food. that was her passion. and on august 20th, 1990, they opened irazu. last year business was great. and then the pandemic hit. we had to reset. the city had said that pick up and delivery was still viable. that kept us afloat. in the summer, we were so excited to have our customers back on our patio. safely of course. and keeping our diners informed was so important. last year was so hard, but the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. serving the community, serving the neighborhood... this is the dream that mom wanted. hi, i'm debra. i'm from colorado. 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administrator under president obama and also florida's emergency management head under jeb bush. good to have you on. thank you for taking the time. >> good morning, jim. >> so first, simplest question is why? what's behind this surge? you have republicans saying straight up it's all prooesiden biden. you sthalso have them saying tha collection of pressures now. what do you find? >> well, you know, from fema's perspective and this is what we faced when we were dealing with surge on the border is we're not going to talk about or focus on why. our real job is to focus on the factor here in the situations they're in are not what we want. we need to make sure that these children are being cared for, that they are processed and placed into health and human services facilities while the outcome of their process is determined. and, again, for fema, this is really about the humanitarian aspect of the children that are now in custom and border protection custody and need to be cared for. >> i understand you don't want to be drown into the plucks here. but the reason i'm asking this is because causes get to solutions here, right, in terms of how you handle this. and i want to compare the current situation to what we saw in 2019 under the trump administration. in terms of total numbers. that gold line is the surge and immigrants in 2019. you can see it goes up to 150,000. the blue one is where we are under biden. no the to that level but outpou outpacing in the february-march time period. you said the surge was not a crisis in 2019. is the current one a crisis? >> well, again, it's getting the system where the churn are not being kept in detention facilities and are moved rapidly through the system. the law said 72 hours and exceeded that. this is really about making sure the needs of the children are being met. that there is growing capacity on the side of health and human services to provide for the longer term care of these children as is required. but i think this is the other part of this you're bringing up. unless you're going to address the underlying issue of why parents are making an extremely hard choice to send their children north on a very dangerous trip, you know, that's going to continue to see pressure on the system as children head north. >> so how is the biden administration handling this? we know that under the trump administration there was a deliberate policy of family separation. biden administration reversed that. the facilities themselves are just overwhelmed by the numbers here. and that's why fema is being called in. are they doing anything right here? are they taking the steps necessary to handle this? >> well, in the beginning of the first couple of months, the system actually was working. but with covid-19, the requirements for social distancing, reduced capacity of facilities, the numbers started creeping up and now they reached the point where the system isn't moving the chuildren fast enoug. so fema is asked help to work with hhs to expand the number of facilities but also bring services to the children as they're going through this process. >> understood. and you're right that the focus has to be on getting those children what they need. craig, we appreciate you sharing your experience. >> thank you. there is a growing crisis right now of covid-19 crisis in brazil. there is a new wave of cases there threatening to overwhelm hospital as cross that country again. we'll take through next. second wave of covid-19 is pushing hospitals across brazil to the limit. the country has been averaging more than 65,000 new cases a day for the past week. icus there are near capacity. >> you're not seeing any down tick there, at least not significant one. the surge comes amid a shortage of vaccines there as a new virus variant spreads rapidly across the country. matt rivers, went there and has more. >> reporter: this woman can only look at the photos of her grandmother. she says watching the videos is too painful. >> translator: its world didn't deserve my grandma, she says. she was too good. admitted march 3rd with covid-19 at this small hospital out, she died just two days later. fat the facility quickly overrun about i a wave of new covid-19. >> translator: this doctor who works there says we think about the families that are suffering and we can't sleep. it is unbelievable. >> reporter: this hospital just doesn't have the facilities to care for those who are really sick. those patients would usually get transferred somewhere else. but right now there is nowhere else to go. so instead of getting transferred, they're dying. in just five days last week, 12 patients died waiting for an open bed somewhere else according to hospital officials. pamela's grandmother was one of them. she thinks that she woo have survived if treated in an icu. but right now access to those facilities is nearly impossible. albert einstein hospital is one of brazil's best but here, too, the rooms are full. thi the