Eta strikes again. The Tropical Storm making landfall in hardhit florida for the second time bringing dangerous flooding. We are live in the storm zone tracking the new threats this morning. Troubled waters. Covid scare at sea. A passenger on board the first cruise to set sail in the caribbean since march reportedly testing positive for coronavirus. Passengers quarantined in their cabins as big cruise lines gear up for test runs looking for Healthy Volunteers to help them get back on the high seas. Two weeks till turkey. How to play it safe this thanksgiving. What you need to know before traveling. The new rules and risks, and the ceo of kroger here live to answer questions about potential shortages at the Grocery Store. The devil will get your soul and countrys golden night kicking off with a powerhouse tribute. The starstudded cma awards unlike any youve seen before. Hey, in 2020, its great to be anywhere. Were taking you backstage with the biggest wingers. Eric Church Taking home the top prize, entertainer of the year. This morning, we are live in nashville with all the showstopping moments. And we certainly say good morning, america. Thanks for being with us. On this thursday morning, great to have whit with us. Great to be here. Its been a while. I know. What a night in nashville. It was great. I think a little music and celebration, everybody needed a Little Something to decompress. Stressful times were in. Well have more on that ahead. First, though, we begin with the latest on the coronavirus emergency. Hospital admissions in the u. S. Soaring past 65,000. A record and more than 144,000 daily new cases. States and cities cracking down and reimposing restrictions. Los angeles hoping to curb the spread by boosting testing. This is the scene at a makeshift facility at dodger stadium. Hundreds of people in their cars waiting to get tested. This morning, dr. Anthony fauci is going to join us with the latest on the surge but, first, trevor ault is in bismarck, north dakota, one of the hardest hit states right now. Good morning, trevor. Sxwlr michael, good morning. Rural states like north dakota were largely spared from the first wave, but essentially the entire country is in the grips of the virus. Doctors and nurses telling us many hospitals are running out of space and manpower, and many patients are running out of time. This morning, coronavirus continues to rage, suffocating nearly the entire country. The White House Task force reporting 42 states now in the red zone with a record 145,000 cases logged wednesday, november is on pace to be americas worst month fighting the virus so far. I can assure everybody that they dont want to be one of my patients. You dont want to be this sick. You dont want to have to be on a ventilator. Reporter dr. Hillary faust is on the front lines in wisconsin where confirmed cases now rival the numbers new york city saw in the spring. As Health Care Workers become infected there, one Hospital System is turning to an emergency volunteer registry. We are reaching out to retired nurses, were using students who have come up and have come to the forefront and volunteered their services. Reporter north dakotas governor going even further allowing infected nurses to keep working so long as they dont show symptoms, with hospital beds there more than 90 filled and infection rates above 20 . Right now its the hardest hit state in the country. We really believe that the accelerated growth of number of cases and hospitalizations is not sustainable. Reporter other hospitals running out of space to care for the crush of covid patients. A Michigan Nurse says this week she had to treat one of them in a storage room. That state, one of several consistently topping 6,000 cases a day, as nationwide deaths have climbed 17 days in a row. A thousand american lives lost on average every 24 hours. Stay home when you can. Work from home if you can. Reporter the potential for another lockdown now looming as cities and states reinstitute restrictions. Experts with the policy lab at Childrens Hospital of philadelphia recommending students in areas with rapidly accelerating transmission rates revert to Online Learning and new york closing bars, restaurants and gyms at 10 00 p. M. , and limiting indoor gatherings to ten people. Bars, restaurants, gyms, house parties, thats where its coming from. Primarily, and those are the ones that we can address. Reporter and we have to stress this is more than just a rising number of cases. Were already at Record Number of americans Receiving Hospital treatment for coronavirus and hospitalizations are now climbing in 43 states across the country. Robin. All right, trevor, thank you very much. And dr. Anthony fauci is joining us now. We know you have long days. We appreciate you spending some time with us this morning, sir. Let me get right to it. We heard in trevors report and others are saying that november could be the worst month to date in fighting the coronavirus. What needs to be done to flatten the curve and to stop the surge in new cases that were seeing, dr. Fauci . Well, robin, what we need to do is what weve been talking about for some time now, but really doubling down on it. There are certain fundamental, you know, baseline things that you can do. Universal and uniform wearing of masks, avoiding crowded congregate situations. Keeping physical distance. Even though the weather is, you know, in the season of cool weather, try as best as possible to do things outdoors, preferentially over indoors, and wash your hands as frequently as you can. They sound very simple, and given the difficult challenge were facing, one may think it doesnt make a difference. It really does. We know that as a fact. We know that through experience. When do you believe that a vaccination will be made available for a majority of the American Public . Obviously the first ones that are going to get it are people Like Health Care providers who put themselves at risk, and then there are those who are highly vulnerable. Over the months from december which when it will start in december, then you get to january, february, march, april, we hope that by the time you get into the second quarter, end of april, early may, may, june, somewhere around that time, the ordinary citizen should be able to get it. You can imagine people anxious and know the timeline there. So thank you for that. Let me ask you this, dr. Fauci. The situation that we find ourselves in following the election, this political limbo, is that having any type of impact as we continue to fight this virus . Certainly, its having no impact negatively on our ability as well as our activity in developing vaccines, in developing countermeasures. The medical part of it keeps going forward. I know this is what i and my colleagues do every day. One getting the message to the American People like were trying to do this morning. But also pushing ahead on the development of vaccines and on countermeasures. So although, you know, it is still a major challenge, robin. Were in a difficult situation and weve just got to keep pushing. Dr. Fauci, do you believe that were headed for a National Lockdown . You know, i dont know. We would like to stay away from that, robin, because there is no appetite for locking down on the American Public, but i believe that we can do it without a lockdown. I really do. I mean sometimes when people talk about the measures that im suggesting we double down on, they equivocate that and say, well, that makes that not a lockdown. It isnt necessarily a lockdown. You could still get businesses going. You could still have economic forward thinking while youre doing that. You dont necessarily have to shut everything down. Hopefully we wont have to do that. If we can do the Public Health measures, we wouldnt have to do that. The best opposite strategy to locking down is to intensify the Public Health measures short of locking down. So if you can do that well, you dont have to take that step that people are trying to avoid which has so many implications both psychologically and economically. Wed like not to do that. Lastly, sir, you know so many people are suffering from covid fatigue. What do you say to them this morning . Well, what i say, i just want to repeat the message that i keep saying over and over again, that help is really on the way. You know, if you think of it metaphorically, you know, the cavalry is coming here. Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact. Theyre going to start being implemented and deployed in december, and as we get into the early part of the year, its going to be january, february, march, more and more and more people are going to be able to be vaccinated. So, if we could just hang in there, do the Public Health measures that were talking about, were going to get this under control. I promise you. Dr. Anthony fauci, as i said, i know you have all these long days and for you to take time to speak with us, means so much, and we appreciate your efforts and we want you to take care. Thank you, sir. Thank you for having me, robin. As he said theres no appetite for a National Lockdown but the Public Health measures and sometimes when you talk to dr. Fauci and he is he knows that hes saying the same thing over and over and over again about social distancing, the masks, repetition, you have to get it into peoples heads that this is truly a way so we dont have to go into the message hasnt changed. And the optimism on the vaccine is nice to hear. Absolutely. Robin, thank you. We turn to the latest on the white house transition. President elect joe biden forging ahead and naming his chief of staff as President Trump and his team show no signs of admitting defeat. Our mary bruce is in washington with new developments. Mary, good morning. Reporter good morning, whit. Well, as the president continues to stonewall this transition, the president elect, joe biden, is plowing ahead moving to fill pivotal posts in his administration starting with what is often known as the second hardest job in washington, his chief of staff. Overnight, joe biden making his first major decision as president elect naming his righthand man, tapping longtime adviser ron klain to be his chief of staff. Biden praising klain as invaluable saying in a statement, his deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what i need as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again. Klain, who already served as chief of staff to biden while he was Vice President , brings valuable insight into combating the coronavirus having led president obamas response to the Ebola Outbreak. Biden now moving ahead to fill critical posts in his administration. Were going to be going, moving along in a consistent manner, putting together our administration, the white house and nothing is going to stop that. Reporter the jockeying for jobs already well under way. Bidens former rival and selfproclaimed democratic socialist senator Bernie Sanders is making a public play for labor secretary. I want to do everything i can to protect the working families of this country who are under tremendous duress right now. Reporter while President Trump making his first public appearance since his defeat at a veterans day ceremony. Aside from tweets the president has not spoken out for a full week now. The longest stretch of silence of his presidency. Trump is still refusing to recognize reality and admit he lost. Instead, pursuing long shot legal challenges even though he has yet to put forth any evidence to back up his claims of widespread voter fraud. This morning, one key state is headed for a manual recount. The race in georgia so tight the secretary of state ordering every ballot to be tallied again by hand. This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvas all at once. Reporter now that recount must be completed by november 20th. Biden currently leads in the state by about 14,000 votes and its unlikely that a recount will significantly move that needle, but even if President Trump were to overtake biden in georgia, it would not change the outcome of the election, whit. And, mary, theyre fighting this out in multiple states right now. What are you learning about trumps strategy moving forward . Reporter well, we know they that he has been huddling with his top advisers going over his potential options here, but those close to the president tell us that privately he knows this race is over. Thats not stopping him, though, from launching these legal challenges and were told he may fight this up until middecember when the Electoral College officially casts their ballots. Its not really clear here what his grand strategy is. We know hes keeping open the possibility of a president ial run in 2024. What is clear, though, is that he is dangerously sowing doubt in the legitimacy of a biden presidency. Kwhit . Mary bruce for us, thank you so much. Michael. Thank you, whit. Now to Tropical Storm eta making landfall this morning hitting florida for the second time. Rob marciano is in the storm zone in tampa tracking it all for us this morning. Good morning, rob. Hey, good morning, michael. Eta has been punishing florida really all week long with rain, surge, and certainly a lot of action too. Regaining hurricane strength briefly yesterday before making the second landfall just north of here overnight. Heres what it looked like a few hours ago during the height of the surge, we had winds over 50 to 60 miles per hour. A surge nearly 4 feet here in tampa. We havent seen water that high since 1991, so a lot of flooded businesses, and a lot of flooded neighborhoods. The center now heading towards gainesville into jacksonville is where the bulk of the heaviest rain will be. Flood watches up for the carolinas as it merges with the front. So a big chunk of the southeast part of the u. S. Will get a piece of eta as this season of 2020 refuses to end. Robin. Youre right about that. Thank you for being there. We turn now to Country Musics big night, the cma awards bringing incredible performances and a ceremony that looked quite different this year but nonetheless, so much fun to watch and im sure to be there. And who was there . Lara who joins us now live from nashville with more. Good morning, lara. How are you . Hey, robin, im good. We all love Country Music, right, but the lengths that the producers went to to give the artists a chance to reunite in a safe space and give fans something they havent been able to see for almost eight months was nothing short of remarkable. Reporter the night kicking off with a toetapping tribute to the late country legend charlie daniels. Theres some charlie daniels. Welcome, everybody, to the cma awards. Man, it is really great to be here, yall. Reporter cma awards host veteran Reba Mcentire joined for the first time this year by host Darius Rucker to lead the night. Countrys biggest stars safely coming together at the Music City Center, strict coronavirus protocols in place. Everyone had to test negative before arriving. Weve been weve been masked and covid testing until right back at you. Reporter the much smaller audience seated at tables seated far apart from each other. Yet, it was still a night to remember to serenade and to celebrate. Maren mother morris had the most celebrating to do. Taking home three awards including female vocalist of the year, praising a generation of black women in Country Music who she says for too long have gone unrecognized. Linda martell, yola, mickey guyton, rissi palmer, rhiannon giddens, brittney spencer, so many amazing black women that pioneered and continue to pioneer this genre. You have made this genre so, so beautiful. I hope you know that we see you. Just feel like we havent been there for them in the way they deserve. Kiss an angel good morning reporter and a moving moment as Country Music trail blazer charlie pride accepted the Lifetime Achievement award. Just want to take a look at it and the cma award for entertainer of the year goes to eric church. Reporter and at the end of the night, it was eric church who took home the nights top prize and delivered a hopeful message after a difficult year. Politicians are about division, music is about unity. And i promise you its going to take everybody in this room to unite. Its hard to take an award in the year that weve had. The win was we were all together. Coming up, lets have some fun. Were taking you backstage at the cma awards live in nashville. Looking forward to that. All right, lara, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Coming up here, fears of a possible new outbreak on a cruise ship in the caribbean. But first, lets go back to rob. Good morning. Good morning, whit. Your local forecast in 30 seconds. Chilly cities sponsored by jcpenney. Good morning. Im abc7 news meteorologist mike nicco. Frosty for some of us this morning. Milder for all of us this afternoon with more sunshine. Have the umbrellas handy tomorrow afternoon and evening. Get ready for warmer weather after that. Today, mid to upper 50s for along the coast. Increasing clouds, not as chilly tonight. 30 in the north bay valleys, 40s for the rest of us. We have a chance of rain, light to moderate, well be right back. In this country by refusing to change. The Ford Motor Company does not resist, deny or ignore change. Weve pledged to make our most iconic vehicles electric, and to use 100 Renewable Energy across all Global Manufacturin